Phylum Ciliata
The phylum Ciliata (sil_i-of_or-ah) includes a number of the foremost complicated protozoa.Ciliates ar cosmopolitan in fresh and marine environments. some ciliates ar dependent.
Characteristics of the phylum Ciliata include:
1. comparatively rigid investment and additional or less mounted form
2. Distinct mouth (mouth) structure
3.pleomorphism nuclei, generally a bigger macronucleus and one or additional smaller micronuclei.
CILIA AND alternative PELLICULAR STRUCTURES
Cilia
Cilia ar typically like flagella, except that they’re abundant shorter, additional varied, and cosmopolitan over the surface of the protozoan. Ciliary movements ar coordinated so ciliary waves skip the surface of the ciliate. several ciliates will reverse the direction of ciliary beating and therefore the direction of cell movement.
Basal bodies
Basal bodies (kinetosomes) of adjacent cilia ar interconnected with AN elaborate network of fibers that ar believed to anchor the cilia and provides form to the organism. Some ciliates have evolved specialised cilia.
Cilia might cowl the outer surface of the protozoan. they will be part of to make cirri, that ar employed in movement. as an alternative, cilia is also lost from massive regions of a ciliate.
Trichocysts
Trichocysts ar pellicular structures primarily used for defense. they’re rounded or oval organelles homeward perpendicular to the cell membrane. In ciliophoran, they need a “golf tee” look. The investment will discharge trichocysts, that then stay connected to the body by a sticky thread.
