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Plagiopyla ovata Kahl, 1931 from the fine sand sulfidic intertidal benthos of marine estuary Acabonac Harbor at Landing Lane. Imaged in Nomarski DIC on Olympus BH2S using SPLANAPO 40 0.95 objective and SPLAN 100 1.25 oil objective with slide oiled to condenser plus variable phone camera cropping on Samsung Galaxy S9+.

Several individuals are shown which range from 64 up to 80 um in length. The cell size and upward curving mid-region of the oral tube with the right side of upper oral lip slightly bulged forming a nose-like structure serve to distinguish the species from its closest congener P. frontata.

"Body size in vivo about 50–85×33–48µm; length to width ratio about 1.5–2.0:1 in vivo and 1.4–1.9:1 in stained specimens. Body rigid, non-contractile, dorsoventrally flattened, obovate, anterior end widely rounded, posterior end more or less narrowed (Figs 3a, d and 4a–c). Single macronucleus, globular to ellipsoidal, centrally located, about 20–30×15–24µm in vivo and 17–29×12–24µm in stained specimens (Figs 3g and 4d, j). Single micronucleus, globular, about 5µm in diameter in vivo and 4µm in diameter after protargol impregnation, closely associated with macronucleus, i.e. located at edge of, or slightly enveloped by, macronucleus (Figs 3g and 4j). Extrusomes slightly curved, 4–8µm long, distributed uniformly in ectoplasm and randomly in endoplasm (Figs 3a, e and 4e); extruded extrusomes slender needle-like (Figs 3e and 4k). Single contractile vacuole located near posterior end of cell, with two distinct pores located behind dense ciliary rows, pores observable in both living and stained specimens (Figs 3a, b, i and 4d, e)" (1).

"Striated band on dorsal side, starting at level of buccal cavity and extending anteriorly a short distance, then turning sharply backwards forming a loop about 7–10µm long, extending posteriorly parallel to somatic kineties, and terminating just below mid-body region (Figs 3b, i and 4f, i, o). Distance from anterior end of cell to beginning of striated band about 25% of cell length. In total, striated band about 34µm long, i.e. approximately half of cell length, consisting of numerous transverse ridges, each 2–3µm wide. Locomotion by swimming while rotating about main body axis, always spiralling to left" (1).

"In total, 56–63 monokinetidal somatic kineties (30–37 on ventral side and 23–30 on dorsal side), kinetids of ventral kineties usually more densely packed than those of dorsal kineties (Figs 3h, i and 4n, o). One or two dense ciliary rows (DC) in posterior region of cell on dorsal side left of cytoproct, about 6–21µm long, composed of 13–22 kinetosomes (for individuals with two DCs, only the left one is counted) (Figs 3b, i and 4o). Somatic cilia 6–10µm long, uniformly and densely distributed on cell surface (Figs 3a, h, i and 4a, n, o). About ten caudal cilia located along left posterior margin of cell, 8–10µm long, straight and oriented in a different direction to somatic cilia (Fig. 3a). Silverlines in irregular-rectangular grid (Figs 3c and 4i)" (1).

"Oral region formed by two lip-like structures, composed of dense oral kineties. Right side of upper oral lip slightly bulged forming a nose-like structure (Figs 3a and 4h). Slit-like buccal opening located at right-ventral side of cell (Figs 3a, h and 4a). Distance from anterior end of cell to beginning of buccal opening about 25% of cell length (Figs 3a and 4a–c). Tube-like buccal cavity about 85% of cell width, extending transversely to left and curving upwards in mid-region (Figs 3a, f and 4a–d, h). Distance from anterior end of cell to top of buccal cavity about 6–9µm. Oral ciliature more dense than somatic ciliature (Figs 3h and 4n). 53–61 oral kineties on cell surface and extending inwards (Figs 3f, g and 4m, n). Upper oral lip kineties 2–4µm long. Gap between upper oral lip kineties and somatic kineties about 2–3µm (Figs 3a, h and 4g, l, n)": (1).

"The genus Plagiopyla includes nine marine species viz., Plagiopyla binucleata Agamaliev, 1978, Plagiopyla cucullio (Quennerstedt, 1867) Wallengren, 1918, P. frontata Kahl, 1931, Plagiopyla marina Gourret & Roeser, 1886, Plagiopyla minuta Powers, 1933, P. mystax (Lynch, 1930) Nitla et al., 2019, Plagiopyla nyctotherus Poljansky & Golikova, 1959, P. ovata Kahl, 1931, and Plagiopyla stenostoma Alekperov & Asadullayeva, 1996. Among these, P. minuta, P. nyctotherus, and P. mystax are endocommensals of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus, whereas other species are free-living. Most species of the genus Plagiopyla (including P. ovata) have a single ovoidal to ellipsoidal macronucleus and a single spherical micronucleus. However, two of the known marine species have different nuclear characteristics, i.e. two macronuclei in P. binucleata, and one vermiform macronucleus in P. stenostoma, and thus can be easily distinguished from their congeners" (1).

"P. frontata differs from P. ovata in having a shorter frontal region section (region between anterior cell margin and upper oral lip) relative to the length of the cell (17% in P. frontata vs. 25% in P. ovata), a straight buccal cavity tube (vs. a buccal tube curving upwards in its mid-region in P. ovata), and the upper oral lip perpendicular to the buccal opening (vs. not perpendicular in P. ovata). P. marina differs from P. ovata in having a shorter frontal region relative to the length of the cell (17–20% in P. marina vs. 25% in P. ovata) and long ovoid (vs. ovate to obovate) body shape" (1). P. ovata is smaller than P. frontata. Nitla et al. 2019 emphasized the size range reported by Kahl of P. frontata versus P. ovata 113–174 um vs 73–79 um (2).

1. Redescription and SSU rRNA gene-based phylogeny of an anaerobic ciliate, Plagiopyla ovata Kahl, 1931 (Ciliophora, Plagiopylea). Ran Li, Wenbao Zhuang, Congcong Wang, Hamed El-Serehy, Saleh A. Al-Farraj , Alan Warren and Xiaozhong Hu. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 2021;71:004936 DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.004936
2. Critical revision of the family Plagiopylidae (Ciliophora: Plagiopylea), including the description of two novel species, Plagiopyla ramani and Plagiopyla narasimhamurtii, and redescription of Plagiopyla nasuta Stein, 1860 from India VENKATAMAHESH NITLA, VALENTINA SERRA, SERGEI I. FOKIN, LETIZIA MODEO, FRANCO VERNI, BHAGAVATULA VENKATA SANDEEP, CHAGANTI KALAVATI and GIULIO PETRONI. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019, 186, 1–45.

Several specimens of fish lice crawling out from the scales of a dying carp that I removed from the water.
Picture at different focal lengths show the suckers as well as various hooks for attaching themselves to the host.
Ranged in size from 3-5mm.

Phacus longicauda from the edge benthos of the acidic freshwater pond Chatfield's Hole situated in a white pine forest. This is the type species (holotype) of the genus Phacus. Length 175 um including the tail.
Species: 120-170 μm long, 45-70 μm wide; usually slightly twisted; a long caudal prolongation; flagellum about 1/2 body length; stigma prominent; a discoidal paramylon (paramylum) body central; pellicle longitudinally striated (Kudo, 1966).
var. longicauda: cell body 85-170 μm long, 45-70 μm wide; locomotive flagellum shorter than the cell body; a single paramylon body ring shaped (An Illustrated Guide to Freshwater Zooplankton in Japan, 2000).

Phacus longicauda (Ehrenberg) Dujardin 1841: 337, pl. 5 fig. 6
Published in: Dujardin, F. (1841). Histoire naturelle des Zoophytes, Infusoires, comprenant la physiologie et la clasification de ces animaux et la manière de les étudier à l'aide du microscope. pp. i-xii, 1-684. Paris: Librarie Encyclopédique de Roret

My first attempt at diatoms cleaning.

Three specimens observed, from the same sample of my previous observation https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141202070 taken on 2022-11-05.

Stria density: 7-8 per 10 μm (center), 10-11 (extremities).
Puncta density: 11 per 10 μm.
Length 213-225 µm, width 41-44 µm.

Stigmata visible near the central nodule.

According to Diatoms of Europe vol.3 by Kurt Krammer, 2002, it looks like Cymbella peraspera:
“Valves moderately to distinctly dorsiventral, dorsal margin rather evenly arched, ventral margin with a slightly gibbous central portion. Valve ends not protracted and broadly rounded. Length (130)154-320 µm, breadth 44-52 µm, maximal length/breadth ratio about 6. Axial area moderately wide, linear, widening at mid-valve to form a shallow central area, about ¼ to nearly ⅓ of the valve breadth. Raphe slightly lateral, tape ring near proximal and distal ends, becoming filiform near the proximal and the distal ends. Proximal raphe ends with moderately large roundish central pores which are slightly ventrally deflected; terminal fissures sickle-shaped and dorsally bent. Striae throughout radiate. Puncta distinctly and more or less roundish in focus high and low. A large number of stigmata on the ventral side of the central nodule, in focus low differently shaped from the puncta, commonly distant from the middle ventral striae. Striae 5-8/10 µm, becoming up to 10/10 µm near the extremities. Puncta 7-10(11) in 10 µm.”

Brachonella contorta from a four month old sample taken in August 2022 from the northernmost edge benthos of a spring-fed freshwater coastal pond in the Atlantic Double Dune Reserve. The sampling site is 250 meters from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. They measure up to 123 um in length.

"Brachonella contorta (Levander, 1894) Jankowski, 1964 (original combination Metopus contortus Levander, 1894) Improved diagnosis based on our populations and the original description (Levander 1894): Body size about 70 − 126 × 42 − 106 um in vivo. Body bullet-shaped, massive conical preoral dome nearly obscures short bluntly truncate postoral part. Dorsoventral flattening of preoral dome rather variable. Cytostome markedly displaced posteriorly. Dense brownish-black cytoplasmic granule aggregate at the anterior end of preoral dome invariably present. Macronucleus globular, in anterior body half. Usually about 55 ciliary rows, about 22 of which are preoral dome kineties abutting to form apical suture in ventral view. Elongated evenly distributed cilia encircle posterior end. Perizonal ciliary stripe invariably comprises five rows, never arranged in false kineties, same length as adoral zone proximally, slightly longer distally. Paroral stichomonad. Adoral zone makes 360◦ spiral around long axis, usually comprises about 60 membranelles" (1).

1. William Bourland, Johana Rotterová, Ivan Čepička. Redescription and molecular phylogeny of the type species for two main metopid genera, Metopus es (Müller, 1776) Lauterborn, 1916 and Brachonella contorta (Levander, 1894) Jankowski, 1964 (Metopida, Ciliophora), based on broad geographic sampling. Eur. J. Protistol. (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2016.11.002

Gruberia lanceolata from the intertidal benthos of marine estuary Accabonac Harbor. These two examples, measure 700 um in length preventing me from including the entire body in a picture! The slightly contractile body is tinted golden brown by innumerable rosy cortical granules. Imaged in Nomarski DIC using Olympus BH2 under SPlan 20x objective plus variable phone cropping on Samsung Galaxy S9+.

The discussion and description are excerpted from the paper referenced below.

Heterotrichea Stein, 1859 Heterotrichida Stein, 1859 Gruberiidae Shazib et al. (2014) Gruberia Kahl (1932) Gruberia lanceolata (Gruber 1884; Kahl 1932)

The class Heterotrichea Stein, 1854 currently comprises 10 families; one of them, Gruberiidae Shazib et al. 2014; includes only the genus Gruberia Kahl 1932 (Lynn 2008; Shazib et al. 2014). Initially, Gruberia was considered to be related to Spirostomum Ehrenberg, 1833 within the family Spirostomidae Stein, 1867 due to their highly contractile body and an adoral zone of membranelles covering approximately one-third to one half of body length. This hypothesis, however, was rejected based on molecular phylogenies (Boscaro et al. 2014; Fernandes et al. 2016; Modeo et al. 2006; Rosati et al. 2004; Shazib et al. 2014). In fact, Gruberia and Spirostomum are morphologically divergent, exhibiting distinct structures of the paroral membranes and mechanisms of cell contraction (Beltran 1933; Kahl 1932; Shazib et al. 2014). Specifically, the paroral membrane is fragmented in Gruberia, whereas it is continuous and posteriorly thickened in Spirostomum (Shazib et al. 2014). Moreover, the somatic ciliary rows become spiraled in Spirostomum during contraction, but remain meridionally orientated during contraction in Gruberia (Dragesco and Dragesco-Kerneis 1986; Shazib et al. 2014).

Cells in vivo 280–870 9 40–160 um in size and elongate fusiform with a tapered pointed posterior. Contracted cells are approximately half the length of extended cells, that is 150–450 9 40–95 um. It moves slowly on the bottom among sand grains. The macronucleus is moniliform and comprises 11–16 nodules, each 13–30 9 8–12 um in size. No micronucleus was observed. Somatic ciliature comprises approximately 24–38 kineties. The longitudinal somatic ciliary rows remain meridional during body contraction. Cortical granules rosy. The cytoplasm is colorless and contains many dispersed food vacuoles. Peristome is approximately 40–440 um long, occupying 1/3–1/2 of body length. Adoral zone with 115–330 membranelles. Paroral membrane fragmented in 35–50 short kineties with 2–6 pairs of dikinetids each. It extends parallel to the adoral zone of membranelles throughout its length. The adoral zone of membranelles performs a counterclockwise curvature, plunging into the oral infundibulum.

Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 2018, 0, 1–11 11 Pedro H. Campello-Nunesa, Noemi M. Fernandes, Franziska Szokoli, Giulio Petroni &
Ignacio D. da Silva-Neto. Morphology and Phylogenetic Position of Gruberia lanceolata

Mag. 400x
I think this is Raphidocystis pallida, because of the similarity of these 4 specimens to images here https://arcella.nl/raphidocystis-pallida/. The stacking of scales against the base of some of the axopods gives them the look of tall pine trees (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrohelid). For an interesting video that records the movement of the central ectoplasm, see https://youtu.be/VfGL6os0Icw.

• A water sample was taken on 10/21/2022, from the shore of one of the impoundments, using a 10µ dip net to enrich for microbes. Air temp. 65°F.

Mag. 400x
Side view of M. furcata. For a front view, see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/130932656.

• A water sample was taken on 10/21/2022, from the shore of one of the impoundments, using a 10µ dip net to enrich for microbes. Air temp. 65°F. (Sample was stored at room temperature and assayed again on 10/22/2022.)

Mag. 100x (!-4), 400x (5-7)
Rotifer. As seen here http://cfb.unh.edu/cfbkey/html/Organisms/PRotifera/GBrachionus/brachionus_quadridentatus/brachionusquadridentatus.html and https://www.plingfactory.de/Science/Atlas/KennkartenTiere/Rotifers/01RotEng/source/Brachionus%20quadridentatus.html.

• A water sample was taken on 09/13/2022 from the shore of Long Pond using a 10µ dip net to enrich for microbes. Air temp. 71°F. (Sample was stored at room temperature and assayed again on 9/19/2022.)