Fractal formalism in conjunction with linear methods of image analysis is suitable for the comparative analysis of such “irregular” shapes (from the point of view of classical Euclidean geometry) as flattened amoeboid cells of invertebrates in vitro. Cell morphology of in vitro spreading hemocytes from the bivalve mollusc Callista brevisiphonata was analyzed using correlation, factor and cluster analysis. Four significantly different cell types were identified on the basis of 36 linear and nonlinear parameters. The analysis confirmed the adequacy of the selected methodology for numerical description of the shape and the adequacy of classification of nonlinear shapes of spread hemocytes belonging to the same species. Investigation has practical significance for the description of the morphology of cultured cells, since cell shape is a result of summation of a number of extracellular and intracellular factors. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry

Commercial crab populations off the Kamchatka coasts are infested to a considerable degree by the rhizocephalan parasite Briarosaccus callosus: of 769 Lithodes aequispina males examined, 43 (5.7%) were parasitized. Infestations result in the feminization of the crabs, a significant decrease in the cheliped length, and a significant decrease in the carapace length and width. We suggest that commercial selection of healthy males, and the returning of unsuitable crabs, including infested ones, back into the sea, results in an increase of the proportion of infested crabs in the population, their elimination from reproduction, and, eventually, the gradual degradation of a whole population. To minimize as far as possible the negative effects of commercial crab harvesting, all infested crab specimens caught must be destroyed, either aboard or elsewhere, instead of throwing them back into the sea.