As many ciliated protozoa near death, their large contractile vacuoles, which serve as little pumps, are unable to control the proper amount of water within the organisms and they frequently swell to enormous sizes, as this dying Blepharisma is doing. Healthy specimens can be seen swimming past this bloated one. The rose_colored pigment in its body has begun to coagulate. Recorded under Nomarski DIC illumination with a horizontal field of view of approximately 1,600 microns.