Holospora infecting paramecium
This is Holospora. It’s infecting this paramecium and, to my knowledge, it’s relatively rare. Right now it’s infecting the micro nucleus, expanding it to almost the size of the macro nucleus. It’s completely full of bacteria making it look like abstract art. Holospora is very interesting but in short, it’s a genus of bacteria that strictly infects paramecium. It’s usually parasitism but in situations with a specific species of Holospora and a specific species of paramecium, it actually be mutualism. I found them a while ago and was able to successfully keep holospora alive for a few weeks in separate jars. It’s dying out now but that’s to be expected. I’m not great at culturing as it is, especially not a specimen like this. Journey to the microcosmos has a video on holospora if you’d like to learn more.
Captured on Olympus bx50 DIC at 40x with a phone camera.
Freshwater sample. Listed to adhere to posting guidelines.