There are several species of Euplotes, but all of them have four caudal (tail-end) cirri that project at different angles. What are cirri? I’m glad you asked 🙂 Cirri are clumps of cilia that have been fused together, and are useful for swimming and clinging to objects. Euplotes are unique in that they use their cirri to “walk” on the water. Thought walking on water was reserved for miracles? Well, apparently for Euplotes it’s just an every-day occurance! Check out this short video.

Euplotes has a single U-shaped macronucleus and a single micronucleus. Towards the top of the cell you find the round buccal cavity, which acts as a mouth. Cilia around the buccal cavity push food into the cavity, where it can be taken up into lysozomes and ‘eaten’. Euplotes range from 80-200um in length and are ovoid in shape.

One really cool article I found was about bacterial endosymbionts in Euplotes. Check it out here!

Below is a scanning electron microscopy (SEM)  image of Euplotes – what cool-looking cell!

Sources :

http://www.ebiomedia.com/walking-with-euplotes.html

http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/courses/bio332/labs/ciliateproject/euplotes/Euplotes.htm