portrait

Description:

Ploeotia (plee-owe-sha) a gliding heterotrophic euglenid. One flagellum projects anteriorly and beats with an undulating motion, the posterior flagellum is thickened and trails. The cells are rigid, usually flattened and have a well-developed ingestion apparatus as can be seen here. This photograph is of a rather damaged cell, the recurrent flagellum is pointing forwards and the anterior flagellum has been lost. This image does however show the ingestion organelle clearly. Differential interference contrast.