22 Jul: Do slugs have blood?: Cool things I learnt today

marmitelover2000

Firstly I should apologise for being so late with this one. I went 2 days without sleeping so I was starting to type like a pharmacist ( smashing the keyboard at random to create drug names)

17 hours of sleep later ( and catching up on chores I missed, speaking to my grandmother etc.) here I am to answer the question.

Do slugs have blood?

Quick warning, there will be a picture of some blood and a needle (blood collection on an animal) so viewer discretion is advised. (don't come for me )

This topic came up thanks to my Grandmother when I told her "I wish I was a worm so I could lay face down and inch across the floor" ( we were specifically discussing mobility and energy demands causing fevers)

She asked if worms have blood, because if they did then its likely I would still get a fever if I was a worm. (prostaglandins and cytokines the nasty chemicals, travel in your blood, she said I would also probably be eaten but that's a different matter)

She said maybe a slug would work because they are kind of slimy and when you squish them, they don't appear to have blood ( I didn't ask how she knows, I don't really want to know) .

After lots of research I can say: Slugs do in fact have blood and it happens to be BLUE 🤯

The reason for this is:

Whilst we use iron to carry oxygen in our blood ( kind of) In the form of haemoglobin

Snails, Spiders, Octopi and slugs use hemocyanin to carry oxygen. This is a compound made from…. Copper! ( Not the nee-naw nee-naw "you're under arrest " kind)

This is what gives it it's bluish appearance. ( The statue of liberty appears blue greenish, this is because its made of copper)

( photo of horseshoe crab blood, a horseshoe crab is an arachnid like a spider [long story])

It has pretty much the same structure as haemoglobin ( which has iron in the middle) but instead of iron, its copper that binds to oxygen.