Fig. 4. Diagram of the behavioural response of a macrostomal cell of Tetrahymena vorax after capturing a T. thermophila cell. The macrostome selects a T. thermophila (1) and captures it (2). The macrostome continues to swim in the same direction for 1.7±0.6 s (mean ± S.E.M., N=8) (3) before briefly swimming backwards and the anterior part starts to contract (4); this is followed by cell rotation (5). The total duration of the chain of events depicted (1-5) was 28.3±5.2 s (mean ± S.E.M., N=8). The cell then swims forward again, the prey is in a digestive vacuole (DV) (6). It normally takes 10-13 min before phagocytosis restarts.

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