Vorticella convallaria

Vorticella convallaria is a protozoan, the type species of the genus Vorticella. It resembles V. campanula, but differs in being somewhat narrow in the anterior end and usually having no refractile granules in the endoplasm.

The cell body of this species is 50-95 μm long and 35-53 μm wide. The peristome ranges from 55-75 μm in diameter. The rod-like, contractile stalk is 25-300 μm long and 4 μm wide. It can collapse into a tightly coiled helix in under 1/60th of a second.