Chonotrich
Encyclopedia
Chonotrichia is a subclass of phyllopharyngeid
ciliate
s. These single-celled organisms are sessile
at maturity and usually live on crustacean
s as ectosymbionts
.
Phyllopharyngea
The Phyllopharyngea are a class of ciliate protozoa, including some which are extremely specialized. Motile cells typically have cilia restricted to the ventral surface, or some part thereof, arising from monokinetids with a characteristic ultrastructure...
ciliate
Ciliate
The ciliates are a group of protozoans characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to flagella but typically shorter and present in much larger numbers with a different undulating pattern than flagella...
s. These single-celled organisms are sessile
Sessility (zoology)
In zoology, sessility is a characteristic of animals which are not able to move about. They are usually permanently attached to a solid substrate of some kind, such as a part of a plant or dead tree trunk, a rock, or the hull of a ship in the case of barnacles. Corals lay down their own...
at maturity and usually live on crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s as ectosymbionts
Ectosymbiosis
Ectosymbiosis is symbiosis in which the symbiont lives on the body surface of the host, including internal surfaces such as the lining of the digestive tube and the ducts of glands....
.