image_list image_listE

Oligohymenophorea: Peritrichia: Sessilida: Vorticellidae

Carchesium sp.
Ehrenberg, 1830

Carchesium Genus: Colonial; each zooid has a separately contractile myoneme (Illustrated Guide, 1985). Each animal has its own myoneme, can contract singly without causing colony to contract (How to know the protozoa, 1979).
Species: 100-125 μm long; colony up to 3 mm; fresh water (Kudo, 1966). 120-125 μm long (How to know the protozoa, 1979). Body bell-shaped; 80-140 μm long; a macronucleus C-shaped (Kojima, et al., 1995).
Similar Genus ->> Zoothamnium; Vorticella; Opercularia; Epistylis;


Carchecium sp. (polypinum ?), cell body 78 μm long, μm wide, x 100, x 200, x 400, Watarase-Yusuichi, Fujioka town, Tochigi Pref., Japan, May 2001 by Y. Tsukii
scale 100 μm scale 200 μm scale 300 μm; x 200 : scale 50 μm scale 100 μm scale 150 μm; x 400
Carchesium Carchesium Carchesium
Carchesium Carchesium Carchesium

Carchesium polypinum Linnaeus, 1758: 100-125 μm long; colony up to 3 mm; fresh water (Kudo, 1966). 120-125 μm long (How to know the protozoa, 1979). Body bell-shaped; 80-140 μm long; a macronucleus C-shaped (Kojima, et al., 1995).

Carchesium granulatum Kellicott: About 100 μm long; two contractile vacuoles anterior (Kudo, 1966).

cf. Zoothamnium: Like Carchesium but myonemes of individuals are connected as a single, branched contractile system, whole colony contracts at once (How to know the protozoa, 1979).


Please click on images for viewing enlarged.
Copyright Protist Information Server