Morphologic, cytometric and functional characterisation of Anadara kagoshimensis hemocytes

Circulating hemocytes of ark clam, Anadara kagoshimensis, were investigated using light microscopy and flow cytometry. Hemolymph contained 3 morphotype of cells, amebocytes, erythrocytes and intermediate type cells, which formed two distinct subpopulations on flow cytometric dot plots. Large cells (intermediate morphotype and erythrocytes) amounted 85.6 ± 2.8% total cells in hemolymph. Erythrocytes were hemoglobin-containing cells with up to 40 granules presented in the cytoplasm. All hemocyte types, observed in the ark clam hemolymph demonstrated equal capacity to spontaneous production of reactive oxygen species.