Fish Blood Smear Under the Microscope
Fish Blood Smear, Cyprinus carpio
This is a smear of fish blood stained with Giemsa. Like bird and frog blood, fish red blood cells are oval and keep their nucleus, which makes this slide useful for comparing vertebrate blood.
This is a smear of fish blood from a carp (Cyprinus carpio), stained with Giemsa. Most of the cells are red blood cells, which are oval and have a dark nucleus in the center. That is a key difference from human red blood cells, which are round and have no nucleus. A few darker, smaller cells scattered between them are white blood cells and other blood cells. Students can compare this slide with a human blood smear to see how red blood cells differ between groups of animals.
What to look for
- Red blood cells: Oval cells with pink to light purple cytoplasm and a dark purple oval nucleus.
- White blood cells: Rounder cells with larger nuclei and more varied shapes, scattered among the red cells.
- Thrombocytes: Small cells with a nucleus that help with clotting.
Questions and answers
Do fish red blood cells have a nucleus?
Yes. Fish red blood cells are oval and have a nucleus, like those of birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Mammals are the main group whose mature red blood cells lose their nucleus.
How is fish blood different from human blood under a microscope?
Fish red blood cells are oval with a dark nucleus in the center. Human red blood cells are round, smaller, and have no nucleus, so they have a pale center instead.
Compare it
- Category
- Vertebrates
- Scan magnification
- 20x
- Stain
- Giemsa
Viewing this slide in class
This is a scan of a real prepared slide, not a simulation or a drawing. On StudyScope you can pan from the whole slide down to individual structures, always in focus, and measure them in real micrometers with the calibrated ruler. Present it live and every student screen follows your view and annotations. Students join with a room code on Chromebooks, iPads, or any browser, with no accounts.