Description And Feeding Habits
A dinoflagellate cell globular, polygonal, or extended into apical and antapical horns; cingulum more or less median; thecal plates usually thick and often strongly ornamented; heterotrophic pallium feeding; very important in marine plankton. (Refs Balech 1988; Jacobson & Anderson 1986, 1992). They typically are between 220- 300 Micro-meters and 150 Micro-meters wide at full size. Interestingly enough their color depends on their diet. Their typical habitats are coastal and oceanic environments. They range from warm temperate to tropical waters. They typically are in waters that range from 5- 23 degrees C and 31- 36 PPM in salinity. The protoperidinium reproduces both sexually and asexually (Guiry, Michael D., 2015).
This microzoo
plankton Protoperidinium pellucidum ( tentative ID) is a pallium feeder, and captures to digest phytoplankton cells (Jacobson and Anderson, 1986). They feed by extruding their cytoplasm out of their theca in the form of a pseudopodium and engulfing their prey. After eating their prey it retracts itself back in (Jackobson and Anderson, 1986). Phytoplankton cells are less abundant than smaller-sized cells so they search for specific prey. After passing a nearby potential food item, the Protoperdinium circles around the source several times without even making contact with it. This behavior suggests there is some type of chemoreception used to recognize the potential food item (Edward J. Buskey, 1997).
My animation shows this part of the life cycle.
How This Species Could Be Represented As a Part Of Our Social Society
The way I see how a Protoperdinium could be represented in our society could be business owners. They would wear nice suits and circle around the little guys (phytoplankton) who are working to create oxygen for everyone (through photosynthesis). As these workers are doing their job and working, the bosses or owners show up in their nice suits, check on the progress of the employee and devour them accordingly. Business owners reap the benefits of the their workers labor with just small management organization of details. As their is a food chain order that must be held in the sea, same can be said for a business. The small guys will do the heavy lifting, everyone above them will benefit and the top guys ultimately get the biggest and best bite.
Literature Cited
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2016. AlgaeBase. Mol Ecol 19:2933–48; World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway.
Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). 2012. Protoperidinium oceanicum (Vanhoffen) Balech 1974
Behavioral components of feeding selectivity of the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Protoperidinium pellucidum in Marine Ecology Progress Series (Edward Buskey) · January 1997
Jacobson DM, Anderson DM (1986) Thecate heterotrophic dinoflagellates: feeding behavior and mechanisms. J Phy– c01 22:249