Table of Contents
Which animal has black blood?
Including some invertebrates, amphibians, and reptiles.
Invertebrates such as sea cucumbers, leeches, and cart-wheeling spiders have black blood due to the presence of a type of iron-rich, oxygen transporting pigment called hemocyanin. Invertebrates use hemocyanin to transport oxygen instead of hemoglobin that is found in the red blood cells of more complex animals, such as mammals.
Some species of amphibians, such as the Mono Lake tidepool sculpin, have black blood due to high amounts of hemoglobin in the blood. The Mono Lake tidepool sculpin is found solely in the high saline environment found in Mono Lake, California, causing the amino acids in the hemoglobin to be replaced with other molecules, such as ions of iron, cobalt, and nickel.
Reptiles that have black blood include certain species of pit vipers. Pit vipers typically have red blood just like many other vertebrate animals, however, some species have black blood due to the presence of organohalogens.
Organohalogens are molecules synthesized by pit vipers in order to store energy, and they have the ability to turn the blood of certain species of reptiles black.
Which animal does not have lower teeth?
The animal that does not have lower teeth is the whale. This is due to the fact that whales are specialized feeders that rely mainly on filtering small prey such as krill, plankton and small fish through their baleen plates, which occupy the top and bottom jaw of the whale instead of teeth.
Baleen plates are sheaths of stiffened keratinous material forming very fine filters that allow whales to collect prey items that are too small to see. Whales may also use their tongues to suck in prey items or to sweep the baleen plates.
