The Hematology of Goldfish, Carassius auratus

Abstract

The peripheral blood of the normal goldfish, Carassius auratus, contains erythrocytes, thrombocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. Immature stages of these elements are frequently encountered in the blood. The mean erythrocyte count of 100 goldfish was 2,025,000 [plus or minus] 118,671/mm3, and the mean thrombocyte count was 51,550 [plus or minus] 3,323/mm3. Erythrocytes in an apparent state of amitotic division were observed to be numerous in the blood of certain animals which also had large numbers of erythroblasts. The total leukocyte count was 21,987 [plus or minus] I,519/mm3. A differential analysis of the leukocytes revealed the lymphocytes totaled 20,323 [plus or minus] 1073/mm3 (92.5%); neutrophiles, 1132 [plus or minus] 143/mm3 (5.1%); eosinophils 488 [plus or minus] 61/mm3 (2.2%); and basophils, 44 [plus or minus] 25/mm3 (0.2%). No blood cells corresponding to the monocyte of higher vertebrates were observed in C. auratus.