ABSTRACT
Tintinnid ciliates have been cultured in the laboratory by a number of investigators during the past 2 decades. The generally more abundant aloricate oligotrich ciliates have been less amenable to laboratory culture. This chapter describes procedures for the nonclonal serial culture of herbivorous, phagotrophic marine planktonic oligotrichs. In addition to careful attention to the chemical composition of the culture medium and to physical and biological culture conditions, successful culture of oligotrichous ciliates in the laboratory requires attention to details of the processes of collection, concentration, and isolation of the target organisms. The ciliates are manipulated individually under a dissecting microscope using a drawn pipette. The choice of appropriate phytoplankton food for planktonic oligotrichs is dictated by the organisms' in situ environment, by their mouth dimensions and feeding mechanics, and by the availability of suitable phytoplankton cultures. Light Oligotrichs which are strictly heterotrophic can be grown in either the light or the dark.
