Haemocyanin

It now appears that in spite of great differences in structure, molluscan and arthropod haemocyanins have a common molecular origin (Schneider et al., cited in Linzen et al. 1985a).

Haemocyanin : Out of these four respiratory blood pigments, haemocyanin ranks next in importance to haemoglobin.

S. officinalis uses the blood pigment haemocyanin which has a limited capacity for carrying oxygen (3 mM) and thus rely on fully oxygenating haemocyanin at the gills and releasing the majority of the bound oxygen as it passes through the body (Melzner et al. 2007b).