Digestion, Ingestion

And Paramecium

INGESTION: Paramecia have numerous cilia for feeding on bacteria and other protists. The funnel like oral groove is lined with cilia that create a water current that sweeps food down the groove to the mouth pore.

The mouth pore opens onto a gullet, which forms food vacuoles that circulate throughout the cytoplasm.

 

DIGESTION: The contents of vacuoles are then digested and absorbed. The indigestible matter remaining in the vacuole moves to the anal pore, an opening in the cell membrane where waste is eliminated. (Food vacuole seen as a red circles in the paramecium.)