Ultrastructural study of the blood cells of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae (Rhipidistia: Coelacanthini).

The blood cells in the renal capillaries of the coelacanth Latimeria chalumnae Smith were studied by transmission electron microscopic methods. On the basis of ultrastructural similarities of cytoplasmic granules of the leukocytes and by comparison with those of the fish and mammalian cells, erythrocytes and three types of granular leukocytes, namely neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils, and three types of agranular leukocytes, i.e., lymphocytes, monocytes and thrombocytes are characterized. The presence of granular and agranular leukocytes in the blood of Latimeria suggests that these cells appeared early in vertebrate evolution. The display of nuclear blebs on the cytoplasmic phase of the nuclear membrane and the presence of nuclear fragments in the cytoplasm of some erythrocytes suggest that these cells undergo apoptosis in order to delete older erythrocytes from the blood stream. The relatively small size of its nucleated erythrocytes and the striking resemblance of the ultrastructural features of its leukocytes to those of higher vertebrate leukocytes support the view that Latimeria is a close living relative of tetrapods.