Conchophthirus was deciliated by calcium ion shock followed by shearing through a 22 gauge needle. This revealed the location of the deciliated basal bodies and the cell's surface architecture. In this image of the suture line where the left and right side rows of basal bodies converge, one can observe the distribution of the ciliature, and at the suture line the location of the deciliated caudal basal bodies to which 10-20 long caudal cilia are attached. These cilia seem to act as a rudder to help guide the organism as the active beating cilia of locomotor cilia propagate the organism through the media. Also note that, when zoomed in, in this preparation the clathrin coated pits, which are normally an invagination into the cytoplasm have everted following the deciliation procedure, to form a small evagination anterior to the stubb of each deciliated basal body. For more information see: Antipa, G. A. and Small, E. B. 1971. A redescription of Conchophthirus curtus Engelmann, 1862 (Protozoa, Ciliatea). J. Protozool. 18:491-503. This micrograph was taken in 1968 by G. Antipa on a Cambridge Mark IIA operating at 20kV. The negative magnification is 1912X. The raw film was scanned with an Epson Perfection V750 Pro. This image is available for quantitative analysis.
Spatial Axis | Image Size | Pixel Size |
---|---|---|
X | 6125px | 8.3nm |
Y | 5192px | 8.3nm |