Chlamydodon species, probably as yet undescribed, from the intertidal benthos of marine estuary Acabonac Harbor at Louse Point launching ramp. Imaged in Nomarski DIC on Olympus BH2S using SPlanapo 40 0.95 and SPlan 10 1.25 oil (no condenser oil) objectives plus variable phone camera cropping on Samsung Galaxy S9+. I followed it while it swam frenetically and lost it, when I found it again it had recently died but was intact allowing me to examine it under oil immersion.
The cell measures 76 um in length and has an oval shape with rounded posterior and anterior ends. The peripheral cross striated band (CSB) is interrupted caudally with a very narrow interruption. There is a left anterior granular aggregate. The cyrtos has 10 nematodemata. There are 5 contractile vacuoles scattered through the cell. The cytoplasm contains yellow granules. There are 4 post oral kineties, 12 right kineties, and 9 left kineties.
No other known species has this constellation of characters. C.erythromaculatus Tucolesco (1962) is a poorly described species that resembles this observation with its posteriorly interrupted CSB and rounded posterior but it is larger at 130–160 um than this observation and features a red spot. C. triquetris also has a caudally interrupted CSB and fits in terms of size and number of nematodesmata but its morphologic hallmark is its triangular shape with tapered posterior end rather than the rounded posterior of this observation.
Diversity of the cyrtophorid genus Chlamydodon (Protista, Ciliophora): its systematics and geographic distribution, with taxonomic descriptions of three species. ZHISHUAI QU, LIFANG LI, XIAOFENG LIN, THORSTEN STOECK, HONGBO PAN, KHALEDA.S.AL-RASHEID & WEIBOSONG. Systematics and Biodiversity (2018), 1–15
Swam with bioluminescent dinoflagellates of the Sw coast of Puerto Rico