Fluorescein (FL), a fluorescent organic anion, is compartmentalized in cells of organic anion-secreting epithelia, e.g., OK cells, teleost proximal tubule, and crab (Cancer borealis) urinary bladder, a proximal tubule analogue. To further examine the processes involved, FL uptake and distribution were studied in C. borealis urinary bladder cells using epifluorescence and laser confocal microscopy combined with video-image analysis. Intracellular FL was about evenly split between diffuse and punctate compartments after in vitro or in vivo loading. Treatments that affected FL transport into cells (incubation with p-aminohippuric acid or glutarate) altered the FL content of both compartments. However, nocodazole, a microtubule inhibitor, did not affect diffuse FL but significantly reduced punctate FL. Finally, confocal analysis indicated that individual sites of punctate FL accumulation moved in the secretory direction at 0.83 micron/min. Nocodazole nearly abolished this movement and significantly reduced transepithelial organic anion secretion. Thus, in crab urinary bladder, a substantial fraction of total cellular FL is sequestered in vesicles, and these vesicles move in the secretory direction, by a microtubule-dependent process.