A respiratory protein found in certain worms and mollusks that serves a similar function to hemoglobin in vertebrates, binding and transporting oxygen.
From cruor (blood) + -in (suffix for proteins and organic compounds). Coined in biochemistry in the 19th century to name this oxygen-binding protein found in invertebrate blood.
Cruorin is nature's alternative solution to hemoglobin—some marine worms use this blue-green protein instead of iron-based hemoglobin to carry oxygen, proving evolution finds multiple ways to solve the same problem!
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