In this lab, the feeding habits of tetrahymena thermophila were observed. Tetrahymena are unicellular predatory ciliates that live in fresh water everywhere. They feed on bacteria and reproduce both sexually and asexually. In order to examine the feeding rates of the tetrahymena, five samples of glutaraldehyde were prepared. Glutaraldehyde is a solution that kills the tetrahymena without harming their tissues. Five samples were prepared in order to collect samples of the feeding tetrahymena at time zero, ten, twenty, thirty, and forty minutes. After the tetrahymena were submerged into the India ink, samples of the tetrahymena feeding on the ink were put into the glutaraldehyde at those given time periods. After the experiment was finished, the feeding tetrahymena were observed under the microscope at four times magnification. Within each sample, ten different cells were observed and the number of dyed food vacuoles within each cell was recorded. The dyed food vacuoles within the cell show that the India ink was consumed by the cell due to the process of endocytosis that was performed in order to obtain food. As the forty minutes progressed, we noticed that there were more dyed food vacuoles within each cell than in the earlier observed time periods.
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