Nucleus of Amoeba

The red arrow in the attached photomicrograph points to the amoeba’s nucleus. Nuclei can be hard to identify, as they are often similary to contractile vacuoles or food vacuoles. A simple method for identifying nuclei is to look for a circular or near-circular body, the outermost layer being clear, and the innerost spherical layer being a bit darker and/or granular than its surrounding layer. To the left of the nucleus, for comparison, is a food vacuole.