Post #14687

What do insects have instead of blood, and what kind of yellow porridge flows out of a swatted fly? Swatting a boring fly is pure bliss. But the triumph of victory is overshadowed by a slimy yellow-gray mess. Why do insects leave not frightening bloody splashes, as a sign of edification to other pests, but some kind of incomprehensible wet spot? Do they have no blood at all or what? Well, firstly, when we crush an insect, its entire body breaks down and turns into a cake. At the same time, all his insides - the intestines filled with semi-digested food, spiracles, genitals, excretory organs - all this is ground up and ends up outside. This, in fact, is the mess that remains from the crush. Moreover, its color, as a rule, strongly depends on what it ate last time. Mosquitoes that get drunk always leave a red wet spot, flies always leave a yellow or brown spot, and a wasp that has eaten blueberries leaves a purple spot. But what about blood? The transport system in the body of insects is completely different from ours. Instead of blood, they use a translucent liquid - hemolymph. Usually hemolymph does not have a pronounced color. This is because there is simply no “coloring” substance in it. Why is our blood red? From hemoglobin - the substance that delivers oxygen. In insects, the blood does not do this. O2 is delivered by a complex tracheal system of many thin tubes called spiracles. Insects breathe over the entire surface of the body (photo 4-5). Although, there are exceptions: for example, some orthoptera (grasshoppers, etc.) have black or brown blood, ladybugs have yellow blood, mealybugs have dark red or crimson blood, and most caterpillars have greenish or bluish blood. The situation is slightly different for spiders and crayfish: the former breathe with lung sacs, and the latter with gills, so their hemolymph has retained its respiratory function, and they have their own hemoglobin. True, instead of iron it contains copper, so their blood is not red, but blue. So if someone shows off and says that he has blue blood, don’t believe him, he’s lying. And if it doesn’t break, then you are dealing with a horseshoe crab. - - - - - We have a huge group, which is 11 years old and there are many zoologists who write tons of text every day from the field in which they are specialists. Due to VK’s failed policy towards authors, all this, unfortunately, rests only on rare advertising and your support. You can support the stability of our nervous system with a minimum subscription of 100 rubles per month. You can request support directly through the button in this post. Thank you! 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot