While searching for microscopic pond life in stagnant pools of water in and around the Tallahassee, Florida area, we have discovered and imaged a number of stentors.

Stentor protozooa (Stentor polymorphus) are single-celled animals that grow to a length of 1.5 to 2 millimeters, much larger than many co-habitating multi-cellular aquatic organisms. Often, stentors will attach the lower portion of their pod to debris and assume the trumpet shape illustated above. The circle of tiny cilia surrounding the trumpet rim beat continuously and serve to create localized convection currents in the water to draw smaller organisms into the rim or mouth (cytostome). When a stentor manages to capture some food (algae or other aquatic organisms) in the trumpet, they rapidly close the rim and force the food into their midsections, as illustrated by the lower two photomicrographs below. Stentors vary in color, depending upon their diet, but they can appear green, blue, or reddish-yellow.

Darkfield illumination digital images were captured using an Intel Play QX3 computer microscope modified for reflected light darkfield illumination. Oblique light was applied to the specimens using light pipes from a Dolan-Jenner Model 180 fiber optics illuminator containing a 150 watt projection lamp. The mixing chamber and diffusion screen were removed from the stage and a large piece of dark construction paper placed beneath the stage to avoid images of the paper being superimposed over the photomicrographs.

BACK TO THE DARKFIELD ILLUMINATION GALLERY

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

The QX3 microscope design is copyrighted © 2022 by Mattel, Inc. Intel® Play™ is a registered trademark of the Intel Corporation. These companies reserve all of their rights and privileges under copyright law. The material contained in this website is solely the opinion of the authors and is intended for eduational use only.

Last Modification Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 02:19 PM

Access Count Since December 24, 1999: 17955

Visit the official Intel Play website:

Visit the websites of our partners in education: