Vorticella are present in streams, rivers, and moist soil. They are single-celled organisms of the protozoa belonging to the phylum Ciliophora. This group of organisms have cilia or small hairs that help in moving and collecting food. The Vorticella have two unique features. One is that they have heads positioned on a coiled stalk that extends when feeding but can quickly contract when the organism feels threatened (often sensing vibration). The second feature is the cilia surrounding their mouths. These beat in unison in a circular motion and create a vortex (origin of the name Vorticella) that sweeps food particles into the preoral chamber leading to their gullet. These organisms were found on cornmeal agar plates containing wet soil and were photographed at 100, 500, and 1,000x magnifications. Preparation of plates is described by Loynachan (2). A downloadable, high-resolution version of this movie in RealMedia format is available at http://www.agron.iastate.edu/~loynachan/mov/.

References.

1.  Dindal, D. L. 1990. Soil biology guide. John Wiley and Sons, New York, N.Y.

2.  Loynachan, T. E. 2006. Quick, easy method to show living soil organisms to high school or beginning-level college students. J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 35:202–208.