I pulled a jar of pond water and discovered a swarm of microscopic piranhas known as Coleps. Watch what happens when these armored scavengers find their next meal under the microscope!

Meet the Coleps, a barrel-shaped, single-celled ciliate with a reputation as the vulture of the micro-world. In this video, we observe a sample of local pond water under high magnification to see how these microbes hunt and scavenge. Using chemosensation, they can "smell" injured prey like a dead blue water mite or a ruptured Stentor coeruleus.

You'll see them use their reinforced oral baskets (nematodesmata) to drill into tissue, and learn how they fire microscopic harpoons called toxicysts to paralyze struggling prey. Covered in interlocking plates of calcium carbonate, these tiny armored tanks are the ultimate cleanup crew of the microscopic ecosystem.

Timestamps
0:00 - Looking Inside the Pond Water
0:11 - Meet the Coleps (The Micro Vultures)
0:40 - Piranha-like Behavior (swarm)
1:08 - Feeding on a Blue Water Mite
1:33 - The Secret Weapon: Toxicysts & Toxins
2:11 - Calcium Carbonate Armor Plates
2:51 - A Giant Stentor Coeruleus Bursts
3:42 - The Stentor's Secret to Survival