Paramecium caudatum are unicellular organisms belonging to the genus of protozoa of the phylum Ciliophora. They are less than 0.25mm in length and covered with minute hair-like projections called cilia. The cilia are used in locomotion and during feeding. They are often called slipper animalcules because of their slipper-like shape.
Paramecium have 2 nuclei (a large macronucleus and a single compact micronucleus). They cannot survive without macro-nucleus and cannot reproduce without micro-nucleus. Reproduction is either by asexual binary fission or occasionally by conjugation (sexual) and rarely by endomixis, a process involving total nuclear reorganization of individual organisms. During binary fission a fully grown organism divides into two daughter cells. Conjugation consists of the temporary union of 2 organisms and the exchange of micro-nuclear elements. Without the rejuvenating effects of conjugation a paramecium ages and dies. Only opposite mating types, or genetically compatible organisms, can unite in conjugation.
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