![]() ![]() For example, blood with elevated levels of methemoglobin, in which the iron molecule is converted from ferrous (Fe 2+) to ferric (Fe 3+), has a chocolate-brown color. ![]() In pathological conditions, human blood may exhibit different colors. Finally, two phyla of marine invertebrates (sipunculids, which includes the peanut worm, and brachiopods) transport oxygen using the non-heme iron protein, hemerythrin, which is colorless when deoxygenated, but turns a violet-pink/purple in the oxygenated state. Some members of the phylum Annelida (segmented worms and leeches) have a greenish respiratory pigment called chlorocruorin. Sea cucumbers have yellow blood due to a high concentration of a yellow vanadium-based pigment called vanabin. 3 Some animals like spiders and other arthropods such as horseshoe crabs, octopi, snails and lobsters, have blue blood due to the presence of copper-based hemocyanin. Some creatures such as the earthworm have extracellular hemoglobin, giving their blood a red color. Some, but not all, have oxygen-binding (respiratory) pigments either dissolved in their plasma or packaged in blood cells, called hemocytes. For example, New Guinean lizards have green blood because of biliverdin, which completely overshadows the normal red color of their iron-based hemoglobin. 2 Sometimes, the color of blood is not fully determined by the respiratory pigment. That is an optical illusion caused by the way skin filters light. Some people’s veins appear to contain blue blood. Venous blood appears dark red, while arterial blood is bright red. 1 The red color is due to the interaction between oxygen and iron molecules in the heme moiety of hemoglobin, which is packaged inside red cells. The vast majority of vertebrates have crimson red blood. Did you know that not all blood is red? Blood can have different colors depending on the species of animal.
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