Ciliates and Bacteria on Fish Surfaces

The video shows free-living ciliates found on the surface of a fish together with bacterial aggregates among which they occur. Attention is often focused on the conspicuous and motile ciliates, whereas the bacterial component may remain unnoticed. Both native and stained preparations are presented to illustrate the spatial relationship between ciliates and bacteria. The footage demonstrates that the presence of ciliates alone does not explain the cause of a lesion and should be interpreted together with tissue condition and associated microbial communities.