Why do different animals have different blood colors? If red blood is caused by Red Blood Cells, do crabs have “Blue Blood Cells”?
In: Biology
Different color because they evolved different molecules for carrying oxygen. Our blood is red because we evolved hemoglobin which is a red color, and we store it in red blood cells because it’s a small molecule that would clog our kidneys if it was just mixed in our blood.
Crabs evolved hemocyanin instead, it is blue. Hemocyanin is much bigger than hemoglobin so they don’t have blue blood cells, it’s just mixed in with their blood without doing any harm.
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