Kentrophoros sp. H from Elba, Italy. Imaging and 3D reconstruction by Thomas Schwaha (University of Vienna).
All Kentrophoros ciliates have ectosymbiotic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. These bacteria form a dense coat on one side of the ciliate cell. In this particular species, the symbiont-bearing side is heavily folded into pouch-like structures, visible in the animated section series as the brighter regions. In the 3D surface model, the yellow region is the ciliate cell body, the blue region is the volume occupied by the bacteria, and in red are the three nuclei of the ciliate cell.
[taxonomy:genus=Kentrophoros]