Erythrocyte fusion in heat‐shocked Atlantic salmon

• Published in: Journal of Fish Biology
• Main Authors: Fox, D. P., Johnstone, R., Durward, E.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1986
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1986.tb05185.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.1986.tb05185.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1986.tb05185.x

Feulgen‐stained blood smears taken from deformed alevins in a heat‐shocked Atlantic salmon population were analyzed by microdensitometry. Within individual alevins, variable proportions of erythrocytes of differing DNA contents were seen. In a frequency distribution of these cells, peaks of DNA content were observed whose means appeared to increase in an arithmetic series. It is suggested that this, together with the complex nuclear morphology of the higher members of the series, is most likely to have arisen as a consequence of cell fusion processes involving, originally, haploid cells. During the 5‐week period of yolk sac absorption there was an apparent selection against erythrocytes having higher DNA contents.