Coleps - the armour-plated poisoner скачать в хорошем качестве

Coleps - the armour-plated poisoner

Coleps is a genus of ciliates in the class Prostomatea with barrel-shaped bodies surrounded by regularly arranged plates composed of calcium carbonate. Coleps feeds on bacteria, algae, flagellates, living and dead ciliates, animal and plant tissues. Coleps uses toxicysts, which are organelles containing poison that it uses to capture its prey from its oral area. It extrudes tube-like structures to force toxicysts into its prey and wait until its prey becomes paralyzed. These toxicysts, however, takes about 5–10 minutes to be effective on the prey of the Coleps and it separates itself from the prey during this time. If there are numerous Coleps hunting for the same prey, some Coleps will cling to its prey until the toxicysts become effective and fragment the prey, consuming only a few parts.