Portrait of the stichotrichine ciliate, Chaetospira remex (Hudson,1875; Kahl,1932). Slightly squashed. This species occupies a long, sometimes branched tubular lorica into which it intermittently retracts. The lorica is attached to the substratum. C. muelleri has a flask-shaped lorica. The cell body is slender,elongate and very contractile. The corkscrew shaped anterior bears a prominent adoral zone of membranelles along the peristome (seen well here). The somatic ciliature is reduced to right and left marginal and two ventral files of short cirri which spiral down the body. The left marginal and one of the ventral cirral files are seen here.The macronucleus is bipartite (not visible in this image). the contractile vacuole is in mid-body between the two macronuclei. Feeds mainly on bacteria, flagellates and diatoms. Collected from a freshwater pond near Boise, Idah May 2004. DIC optics.