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Intraerythrocytic inclusion bodies in the loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta from Madeira

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2000

J.C. Eiras
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoologia e Antropologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal, E-mail: jceiras@fc.up.pt
T. Dellinger
Affiliation:
Centro de Ciências Biológicas e Geológicas, Universidade da Madeira, Edifício da Penteada, 9000-399 Funchal, Portugal, E-mail: dellinger@dragoeiro.uma.pt
A.J. Davies
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Kingston, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE, UK, E-mail: ajdavies.russell@kingston.ac.uk
G. Costa
Affiliation:
Centro de Ciências Biológicas e Geológicas, Universidade da Madeira, Edifício da Penteada, 9000-399 Funchal, Portugal, E-mail: costag@dragoeiro.uma.pt
A.P. Alves de Matos
Affiliation:
Departamento de Anatomia Patológica, Hospital Curry Cabral, Lisboa, Portugal, E-mail: apmatos@ip.pt

Abstract

Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies were detected in the mature red blood cells of twenty juvenile loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, captured in Madeira. The bodies were mostly single, round to oval, frequently irregular in outline, and their diameter varied from 0.5 to 2.0 μm. Most bodies were associated with small granular areas, often in the form of a tail or projection. In some cells, only granular areas were apparent. The nuclei of most erythrocytes were irregular in outline but degeneration of red blood cells was not observed. The identity of these intraerythrocytic structures is not clear but they may be viral or rickettsial in nature.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2000 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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