Relationships between number, size and shape of red blood cells in amphibians

Abstract

1. 1. RBC count and RBC size of 20 Japanese and Korean amphibians (5 urodeles and 15 anurans) were recorded at their breeding seasons. 2. 2. RBCs of urodeles are larger in cell and nuclear size, but fewer in number, than anurans. Interspecific correlations between RBC size and RBC count ( r = −0.902) and between nuclear and RBC size ( r = 0.990) are highly significant. 3. 3. Urodeles have more elongated RBCs than anurans and eccentricity of RBCs increases with RBC size. Eccentricity of nuclei does not correlate with that of RBCs nor with RBC size. 4. 4. Both RBC and nuclear size significantly correlate with genome size. Nuclear volume increases in proportion to the genome size, but increment of RBC volume is less than that of nuclear volume.