• Question: is blue blood real

    Asked by 358evoa29 to Anthea, Chloe, Kevin, Michel, Sean on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Anthea Lacchia

      Anthea Lacchia answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      I had to check this but it is true that some animals have blue blood: for example spiders and molluscs. This is because their blood contains a blue pigment called hemocyanin that acts like a stain. But human blood is just red since it contains hemoglobin, which is a red-coloured protein containing iron.
      Here’s a good article if you want to find out more: http://chemistry.about.com/od/biochemistry/a/Is-Deoxygenated-Human-Blood-Blue.htm
      😉

    • Photo: Michel Dugon

      Michel Dugon answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Alright… blue blood has a few different meaning so I will try and answer as much as I can (hopefully I will nail it at some point!).

      1) Blue blood is an old expression used to refer to people born in a noble / aristocratic family. People believed that aristocratic people had blue blood for some reason. But believe me, aristocrate blood is as red as anybody else’s blood! (do not cut the next noble person you meet in two to check, OK?)

      2) People speak about blue veins and blue blood for the blood vessels that look blueish under the skin. The “blue blood” is a blood that has traveled all around the body, and has already given out all the oxygen it was carrying. That blood is travelling back to the lungs to get fill-up with fresh oxygen. Once it’s full of oxygen, it will turn red and be pumped by the heart towards the organs and muscles.

      3) Not all animals have red blood. Some animals have transparent blood, some others have green blood, and some others… blue blood! Scorpions, crayfish and some centipedes definitely have blue blood. It actually look really cool when you observe it under a microscope circulating under the skin (check some of the pics here: tumblr.com/search/House+centipede)
      The colour of the blood (blue, red or green) is due to the presence of metallic atoms in the blood. If the metal is iron, the blood is red (think about iron rusting: it’s red!, if the metal is copper, it’s blue or green. Copper + oxygen produces a really cool green/blue colour, look here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/publicresourceorg/493888683/

      4) if you are referring about the TV series Blue blood… Well… I have never watched it!

      So did I nail at any point???

    • Photo: Chloe Kinsella

      Chloe Kinsella answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Yes, blue blood is real.
      It’s all down to a copper pigment called Hemocyanin in the blood. Hemocyanin acts as a sort of taxi that transports oxygen through the blood vessels in animals like octopus. This pigment causes the blue colour and and can help the animals to survive in freezing cold temperatures. Humans have a different pigment that acts as our oxygen taxi, its called Hemoglobin, and it give our blood a red colour.

Comments