Culturing and Observation of Paramecium

Materials

• Micropipette
• Hay stems
• Wheat
• Paramecium

Procedure
It is abundantly found in ponds, ditches, and decaying vegetation.

1. Boil 20 gms of wheat and 20–25 hay stems in 500 cc of distilled water for about 10 minutes.
2. Keep the culture in a dark and cool place for about 4 days and then inoculate it with a few paramecia with a micropipette.
3. Within a few days, the culture contains numerous paramecia.
4. Observe the paramecia under microscope.

Classification
Phylum: Protozoa
Class: Ciliata
Order: Holotricha
Family: Paramecidae
Genus: Paramecium
Species: Caudatum, aurelia

Paramecium is the best-known ciliate, found in fresh water ponds, rivers, lakes, ditches, streams, and pools. It has cosmopolitan distribution. It is commonly called the slipper animalcule. Its anterior end is bluntly rounded, while its posterior end is pointed. Paramecium caudatum measures 80–350 microns. Paramecium aurelia measures 120–290 microns. Cilia cover the entire body. The ventral surface is marked by the presence of an obliquely longitudinal groove, the oral groove or peristome. Reproduction is by binary fission. Conjugation constitutes the sexual part
of the reproduction.