1. How does it move? It swims or glides, and you can see a fringe of fine hairs or whirling crowns
2. One cell, or an animal with a jaw? A single cell: no jaw, no gut, cilia over the surface or in rows

What shape and colour is the ciliate?

Ciliates are the most varied group here; these are the common shapes. Size relative to the field of view helps.

1. Slipper or cigar shape, colourless, swims in a smooth spiral→ Paramecium
2. Pink to red→ Blepharisma
3. Very long and thin like a worm, contracts suddenly→ Spirostomum
4. Flat oval that walks on stiff tufts and darts off→ Walking ciliates
5. Small barrel with a pattern of plates, often in a swarm→ Coleps
6. A teardrop with a long stretchy neck→ Lacrymaria
7. A large trumpet, often blue-green→ Stentor
8. A small bell on a stalk→ Bell animalcules
9. None of these: another shape→ Other free-swimming ciliates

Not sure? How to judge size by the field of view · This step looks wrong