The fine structure of the granular amebocytes of the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas

Oyster granular amebocytes were characterized by electron microscopy to be of two types. Acidophiles contained relatively small, spherical, amorphous, osmiophilic cytoplasmic granules with a maximum dimension of 0.4–0.56 μ. Basophiles contained large, cytoplasmic granules, approximately 0.7–1.2 μ in diameter. The granules resembled hollow, spherical structures in which an outer membrane and a layer of closely associated granular material enclosed an electron-transparent interior.