eli5 Underwater blood clotting

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I grazed myself on barnacles and it took until I got out of the water much later for the bleeding to stop even with pressure applied. Why?

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There are 2 things that need to happen for your wound to clot.

1. After your muscles contract to lessen the blood flow, then the platelets from your blood which clot wounds surrounds the wound forming a clump.
2. The clump then gets strengthened by protein called fibrin along with other proteins. They try to create a plug that hardens pretty quickly, to close the wound quickly.

Under water, which is a great solvent, it tends to wash away the fibrin and other proteins quickly. So while your body is actually clotting the wound, the water keeps washing it off you.