Dec 22
![Euplotes patella [CC-BY-SA-4.0 Yikai Feng]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Euplotes_patella_cc-by-sa-4.0_Yikai_Feng.jpg)
Our microscopy practical always turns up something new, which is the main reason I enjoy it. This year it was a ciliate called Euplotes patella. This kneecap-shaped critter is a single-celled organism masquerading as a tiny animal. The appendages that look like long hairs or legs are bundles of extra-long cilia called cirri, which it …
Dec 16
![Stentor sp. [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Stentor_sp.-244x300.jpg)
We had the annual “looking at muck down a microscope” practical last week. As usual, the best thing we saw was a ciliate in some pond water, in this case a little trumpet animalcule: Previous winners: Vorticella and Lacrymaria. The Ciliata really are the phylum that keeps on giving.
Oct 16
![Lacrymaria olor [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Lacrymaria_olor_montage-300x100.jpg)
Last year, the most marvellous thing we saw in the pond-water microscopy practical was a ciliate, and this year the prize goes to that same clade. Ciliates don’t disappoint. This is Lacrymaria olor, the “teardrop of the swan”. It’s a predator, like the Vorticella from last year, but rather than sitting rooted to the spot, Lacrymaria is …
Oct 17
![Vorticella micrograph [CC-BY-SA-3.0 Steve Cook]](https://www.polypompholyx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/vorticella_micrograph-282x300.jpg)
It’s nice to find out that – old and jaded as I am – biology can still delight me. Earlier this week, I covered a first-year practical teaching microscopy skills to first-years, through the medium of pond water. As well as the usual desmids, rotifers, Daphnia and nematodes, one lucky student found a little clump …