Paramecium

Habitat: Aquatic environments, usually in stagnant, warm water.

Size Length: 0.05 to 0.32 mm

Phyllum: Cilliophora

IUCN red list status: No status



Paramecium is a small single-celled microscopic organism with an elongated oval shape with pointed ends. Its body is completely covered with cilia (fine filaments) that beat rapidly allowing the organism to move through the water. It has a thin elastic membrane giving the organism its shape and enclosing the cytoplasm.

Paramecium lives in fresh water ponds and feed on microscopic organisms such as bacteria and single-celled algae. The food is ingested in a food vacuole and the digested substances are then absorbed into the cytoplasm. Material that is not digested is expelled through the anal pore.

Normally, paramecium reproduces by binary fission (asexual reproduction), in which a fully grown organism divides into two daughter cells. Binary fission may take place 2 or 3 times each day. Paramecium is also capable of sexual reproduction.

There are many species of Paramecium and most of them can be cultivated easily in the laboratory, making them ideal model organisms for biological studies.