page_title: Suctoria
section_title: References
hierarchical_section_title: Suctoria / References
caption_attribution_description: Podophyra sp. (Suctoria) - 160x
context_page_description: Suctoria are ciliates that become sessile in their developed stage and then lose their redundant cilia. They feed by extracellular digestion. They were originally thought to feed by suction – hence their name. In fact, they use specialized microtubules to ensnare and manipulate their prey. They live in both freshwater and marine environments, including some that live on the surface of aquatic animals, and typically feed on other ciliates. Instead of a single cytostome, each cell feeds by means of several specialized tentacles. These are supported by microtubules and phyllae, and have toxic extrusomes called haptocysts at the tip, which they attach to prey. They then suck the prey's cytoplasm directly into a food vacuole inside the cell, where they digest and absorb its contents. Most suctoria are around 15-30 μm in size, with a non-contractile stalk and often a lorica or shell.
  Suctoria reproduce primarily by budding, producing swarmers that lack both tentacles and stalks but have cilia. They may also reproduce through conjugation, which is peculiar in involving cells of different size and often involves total fusion.
context_section_description: Juneja, Kavita; Bhamrah. An Introduction to Protozoa. Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd+. pp. 204–207. ISBN 81-261-0679-4.
  Rudzinska, M. A. (1973). "Do Suctoria Really Feed by Suction?". BioScience. 23 (2): 87–94. doi:10.2307/1296568. JSTOR 1296568.
caption: Podophyra sp.
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