3008

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 3008
• Author: Berry, C. R., Jr.
• Title: Hematology of Four Rare Colorado River Fishes
• USFW Year: 1984a
• USFW - Doc Type: Copeia
• Copyright Material: YES

ICHTHYOLOGICAL NOTES

791

TABLE 1. HEMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FOUR SPECIES OF COLORADO RIVER FISH. Values represent
the mean and standard deviation. The number in parentheses is number of samples analyzed.

XYTauchen Pt)'chocheilus Lucius
Characteristic Gila elegans Gila cypha texanus Juvenile Adult
Standard length (mm) 82 :t 6 73 :t 5 192 :t 36 86 :t 5 331 :t 26
(30) (42) (56) (33) (19)
Fish age (yrs) 0.75 1.0 6.0 1.5 6.5
Hematocrit (%) 34.5 :t 5.8 31 :t 5.9 33.5 :t 4.5 38.7 :t 7 38.1 :t 7.2
(23) (35) (56) (29) (18)
Hemoglobin (g/100 ml) 7.1 :t 1.1 7.3 :t 0.9 7.5 :t 1.0 7.5:t 1.1 9.3 :t 1.5
(23) (27) (56) (30) (19)
Total protein 8.8 :t 1.1 6.4 :t 0.8 5.0 :t 0.7 10.9 :t 1.1 5.6 :t 0.7
(g/IOO ml) (24) (33) (56) (28) (18)
Number of erythrocytes 2.37 :t 0.52 2.05 :t 0.35 1.41 :t 0.29 1.70 :t 0.43 2.22 :t 0.53
(106/mm' blood) (20) (30) (56) (30) (19)
Number of leucocytes 76.6 :t 21.4 52.6 :t 13.3 27.1 :t 8.7 73.1 :t 27.2 90.4 :t 25.3
(10'/mm' blood) (20) (30) (56) (29) (19)
Lymphocytes (%) 63 :t 8.7 49.8:t 10.7 60.6:t 16.1 69.8 :t 11.4 62.4 :t 9.1
(22) (31) (41) (30) (19)
Thrombocytes (%) 34.3 :t 9.7 46.5 :t 12.0 33.9 :t 14.6 25.3 :t 11.0 31.4:t 7.7
(22) (31) (41) (30) (19)
Granulocytes (%) 2.3 :t 1.9 3.7 :t 3.5 5.4 :t 6.0 4.6 :t 2.8 6.3 :t 6.4
(22) (31) (41) (30) (19)

Warner, 1976; Grizzle and Rogers, 1979;
Wedemeyer and Yasutake, 1977). Most leuco-
cytes of each species were lymphocytes, as is
typical in freshwater fish (Weinberg et al., 1972).
Lymphocytes were followed by thrombocytes
and granulocytes in decreasing order. Mature
erythrocytes from each species were ellipsoidal
and had a central nucleus. Developing eryth-
rocytes, characterized by polychromatic stain-
ing (Williams and Warner, 1976) and round
shape (Hickney, 1982), were also seen. Eryth-

rocytes ranged in length from 13.8 ::!: 0.51 f.Lm
for juvenile P. Lucius to 16-40 ::!: 0.94 f.Lm for
X. texanus (Table 2).
Neutrophils were the most common granu-
locyte. Both fine and coarse forms (Catton, 1951)
were observed. I classified some granulocytes as
eosinophils, using the criteria of Lester and
Daniels (1976). Basophilic granulocytes, mono-
cytes and macrophages were lacking, as has been
reported for certain other teleosts (Ellis, 1977).
Most lymphocytes from each species were

TABLE 2. DIMENSIONS OF BLOOD CELLS OF FOUR SPECIES OF COLORADO RIVER FISH.! Values represent the

mean and standard deviation.

Erythrocyte Thrombocyte Lymphocyte Granulocyte
Length Width Length Width diameter diameter
Species (I'm) (I'm) (I'm) (I'm) (I'm) (I'm)
Gila elegans 14.0 :t 1.2 8.5 :t 0.6 7.3 :t 1.7 4.4 :t 1.0 6.7 :t 0.9 12.7 :t 2.0
Gila cypha 14.4 :t 1.0 9.1 :t 1.0 10.2 :t 1.5 4.1 :t 0.8 5.9 :t 0.7 12.0 :t 1.3
Ptychocheilus lucius
Uuvenile) 13.8 :t 1.3 9.8 :t 0.8 11.8 :t 4.9 4.9 :t 0.7 6.1 :t 0.7 13.9 :t 1.9
Ptychocheilus lucius
(adult) 14.5 :t 0.8 8.5 :t 0.7 10.4 :t 1.5 4.8 :t 0.8 5.7 :t 0.6 12.1 :t 1.3
Xyrauchen texanus 16.4 :t 2.4 12.0 :t 1.8 16.1 :t 2.6 4.9 :t 1.2 6.7 :t 0.9 14.5 :t 2.3

I Five cells in each of five fish were measured (n = 25) except for granulocytes where n = 12 for juvenile P. Lucius and 22 for adult P. lucius, 13
for G. c;pha and G. elegans, and 24 for X. texanus.