Parade of Protozoan Ciliates in Lake Lanao, Lanao Del Sur before the Marawi Siege

Abstract

Protozoan ciliates are one-celled animal-like organisms characterized by the presence of hair- like structures called cilia. They have been utilized as bio-indicators of organic pollution to monitor the health of an aquatic ecosystem. At present, there are scant studies on ciliates in Lake Lanao, Lanao del Sur, the second largest lake in the Philippines and one of the ancient lakes in the world. Hence this study was conducted to make an inventory of ciliated protozoans and their distribution in the lake at the littoral and pelagic zones of Marawi City, Ramain, Binidayan, Balindong, Taraka, Masiu, Marantao, and Buadipuso from January 2016 to February 2017, before the Marawi Siege. A total of 45 morphologically distinct ciliate species were accounted for which were found distributed across 40 genera namely; Aspidisca, Blepharisma, Campanella, Chilodonella, Climacostomum, Coleps, Colpoda, Colpidium, Cothurnia, Cyclidium, Didinium, Dileptus, Euplotes, Frontonia, Glaucoma, Halteria, Hastatella, Holophrya, Holosticha, Litonotus, Loxodes, Metacineta, Onychodromus, Opercularia, Opisthonecta, Oxytricha, Paramecium, Podophrya, Spathidium, Spirostomum, Stentor, Strombidium, Stylonychia, Tetrahymena, Tokophrya, Trachelius, Trichodina, Urocentrum, and Vorticella. The species of Paramecium, Tetrahymena and Vorticella had the widest distribution among the ciliates observed since they were consistently observed in all sites. Morphological features of these genera are described and the photomicrographs of representative ciliates are likewise presented. The molecular identification of the ciliates and post-siege inventory of the same are underway.