SHERBURNE: BLOOD CELL COUNTS OF HERRING 



RESULTS 



Differential red and white cell counts are 

 listed in Table 4. Blood cell measurements of 

 all cells included in the differential counts are 

 listed in Table 5. 



The mean percentage of each white cell type 

 varied greatly between individual herring, but 

 except in one instance, the mean percentage for 

 most white cell types varied little between 

 samples. Thrombocytes were the most common 

 leukocyte, followed in decreasing order by lym- 

 phocytes, neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils 

 in both wild and captive herring. One group of 

 wild herring sampled on 8 July from Boothbay 

 Harbor was unusual in that neutrophils averaged 

 21% of the leukocytes in contrast to an average 

 of 4% neutrophils for three other wild samples 

 and an average of 6.8% for captive herring. The 

 herring from the 8 July sample were confined in 

 the pocket of a stop seine overnight before being 



bled, in contrast to other wild herring that were 

 bled immediately after the pocket was made in 

 a purse seine (13 March) or in weirs (10 June 

 and 16 July). The relative neutrophilia in the 

 8 July sample may be a result of the combina- 

 tion of being held overnight at relatively high 

 water temperatures and crowded conditions. 

 Temperature alone was evidently not the cause 

 of relative neutrophilia in the July wild sample, 

 for captive herring taken from nearly the same 

 water temperature did not show relative 

 neutrophilia. 



Basophils and eosinophils were scarce in 

 most herring examined, the greatest average (2% 

 basophils) occurred in a wild sample from East- 

 port, Maine. Though one captive herring had 

 16% basophils, one wild herring from Eastport 

 had 32% basophils, and another wild herring 

 from Boothbay Harbor had 5% eosinophils and 

 17% basophils, no differences were found in 

 those specimens in their red cell morphology or 



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