portrait

Description:

These three individuals of this small species of Paramecium have been allowed to dry in a suspension of nigrosin. The stain dries around the cell, showing off the dimpling of the surface, and the ingestion area (in the lower cell we can see the arc-shaped buccal cavity. Crystals inside the cell appear light blue. Dark lines outside the cell are trichocysts (a type of extrusome) that have been expelled from the cells.