Hey, I'm new to morphological identification of protozoa, and I'm struggling a little with this one, any suggestions?
It was found in wastewaters and moves around and in-between the sludge flocs. It's very abundant, i put some references done at 500x magnification with phase contrast.
- Hello I'm Wiliana Fernandes and I Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences, this protozoa is Giardia spp. @
Although the slide image is not very clear to enable me ascertain the internal structures, it sure is Giardia
Dear Daniel,
I am not sure about the identification because the resolution is not high enough. Is it a stalked ciliate (I think I see some in the one photo)? If so, it is probably Vorticella sp., which is very common in activated sludge and biofilm wastewater treatment systems (which these pictures look similar to). The most common free-swimming ciliate I usually see is Aspidisca. If instead it is a flagellated amoeba, then Wiliana and Cornelius may well be correct, though I have never seen them in activated sludge (present at too low a concentration). You can check images of all these genera on Google to help get an idea. Good luck - really interesting, isn't it?
- Peter
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