Squatinella (Rotifera) Movies

Squatinella Video No. 1 - A Squatinella rotifer feeding; under phase contrast illumination at a magnification of 400x with a playing time of 23.4 seconds. Choose a playback format that matches your connection speed: 28.8k (modem), 56.6k (modem), or T1/Cable/DSL, or download this video clip in MPEG format (13.7 MB).

Rotifers belonging to this genus are commonly found in littoral (shoreline) habitats among aquatics. In most species, the corona is covered by a semicircular shield, which is used to scrape small organisms into the mouth while browsing over underwater plants. In the laboratory, it is nearly impossible to pick them up with a pipette as they glide swiftly along the surface of a dish or slide.

Rotifers are extremely common and can be found in many freshwater environments and in moist soil, where they inhabit the thin films of water surrounding soil particles. Their habitats may include still water environments, such as lake bottoms, as well as rivers or streams. They are also commonly found on mosses and lichens, in rain gutters and puddles, in soil or leaf litter, on mushrooms growing near dead trees, in tanks of sewage treatment plants, and even on freshwater crustaceans and aquatic insect larvae.