Fig. 2.

The asexual life cycle of V. carteri when synchronized in a 16 h light/8 h dark cycle. 0h (upper), a germ cell from newly hatched colonies; 0h (lower), a newly hatched colony (2 h into the light cycle); 7h (upper), a germ cell reaching the end of its growth phase and ready to start cleavage; 7h (lower), a colony 7 h after having hatched; 13h, 1 h before the end of the light cycle (germ cells are in the middle of their cleavage phase); 25h, 3 h into the next light cycle (in the dark cycle, germ cells finished cleavage and inverted, and now the daughter colonies are fully formed inside the mother colony); 37h, 1 h before the end of the light cycle (daughter colonies have been growing inside the mother colony). Hatching of daughter colonies takes place at the beginning of the next light cycle.