title: The current position of poikilotherms.
abstract: The major research themes in poikilotherm leukaemias, and their progress over the past two years are reviewed. Despite the fact that poikilotherms represent 99% of the animal world including man, background knowledge on most poikilotherm species is sparse. Furthermore, haemic systems in many poikilotherms have functions different to those of homeotherms. Most progress is being made in relation to lethal blood mutant neoplasms in Drosophila, leukaemias of farmed salmonids among the fishes, and among shellfish, the hemic sarcomas of bivalves. The hypothesis that epizootic neoplasia in fish and shellfish populations could be indicative of environmental pollution is being refined in the light of recent studies; environmental xenobiotics are no longer considered to play a primary aetiological role in either lymphomas and leukaemias of fish or haemic sarcomas of bivalves, although xenobiotics may have a primary role in other poikilotherm neoplasms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University College, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mulcahy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005399:Fishes; D007938:Leukemia / Q000209:etiology*; D008974:Mollusca; D012106:Research; D012758:Shellfish; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000009:adverse effects