Main Content

The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 7808

Eugene C. Bovee and Dean L. Cordell; Feeding on gastrotrichs by the heliozoon Actinophrys sol. Trans.Amer.Micros.Soc. 90(3):365-369, 1971

Reprint

In File

Notes

Actinophrys sol feeds both solitarily and cooperatively on gastrotrichs, especially Chaetonotus vulgaris. The gastrotrich adheres to axopods, is pulled toward the heliozoon by their contractions, is enclosed by bending of adjacent axopods and by a protoplasmic collar which flows over the "belt" of axopods, all within 15 minutes after capture. One gastrotrich nearly escaped the enclosing collar, but was then engulfed, headfirst, within another 20 minutes. It was dead within one hour after capture. A pair of Actinophrys simultaneously engulfed a gastrotrich in a single fused- and shared-gastriole. Digestion of this gastrotrich was complete within six hours; the residure was voided from the gastriole, and the two Actinophrys separated.