Stentor (single-celled)

They can grow up to 2 - 3 mm long.


You can find these dandy creatures attached to plants/algae and planktonic.

They are one of the largest freshwater protozoans and larger than some multi-celled pond animals. When it is attached to a surface, it adopts the trumpet shape shown and the ring of cilia around the trumpet rim draw in water, together with the smaller organisms on which the Stentor feed. When the Stentor swims it changes to an oval shape.

The Stentor is often green in colour because of the algae (single-celled plants) associated with it. Like other large single celled creatures (e.g. amoebas) they have many nuclei. In Stentor you can see the nuclei as a 'string of pearls'. The large sphere is a water expelling vesicle. The cell is covered with tiny hair-like 'cilia'.

Classification :Kingdom Protoctista, Phylum Ciliophora