Protozoa Identification, HELP!

bhj67

In Memoriam
Hi,
one of my phytoplankton cultures crashed, and I discovered these motile protozoan running around consuming all the algae!!

Can anyone identify it please?

contaminant11.jpg
 
I'm no expert, but it seems pretty obvious that it is a ciliate. The problem is that it seems really generalized - although the photo is very clear, I can't make out any structures that would allow it to key out to one family over another. One commonly seen generalized ciliate is Uronema.

Jay Hemdal
 
ok thanks
the photos don't display this well, but there are a strip of little cilia or something that move for locomotion and they also seem to suck the algae into the vacuole.

here are some more photos:

contaminant7.jpg

contaminant14.jpg
 
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