Light micrograph of Vorticella via the Rheinberg illumination technique. This protozoa can live in fresh water, salt water or moist soil. They eat bacteria and smaller protozoans. Vorticella attaches itself to plants and algae and sweeps food into its mouth-like opening at the top of the bell with hair like structures called cilia. The fat bell sits on a thin, springy stalk that attaches the creature to objects in the water. By expanding and contracting on its stalk, Vorticella has wider latitude in feeding. Mag: x40 @35mm.