Where normal red-colored blood is what we believe to be its actual color, some lizards have contrasted it by having their blood color as green, which is so toxic that it can kill humans 40 times over.
A species of lizards called ‘Prasinohaema’ in New Guinea have been discovered that bleed green. It’s not only their blood that is lime-green, their tongues, muscles, skin and bones too have the similar color due to extremely large doses of biliverdin, green bile pigment present that are higher than other animals.
The green bile pigment found in their bloods is equal to what is produced as a waste product in humans that leads to jaundice. The toxicity of their green blood is so much that can kill humans 40 times over, reported Independent.
What’s more weird about these lizards that the amount of bile they have in their blood, which is so toxic that can kill other animals. However, why this pigment doesn’t kill the lizards is still a mystery for the scientists.
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As harmful for humans, the scientists believe that the toxic blood is providing the lizards with health benefits, however, the function of the green bile pigment is still uncertain, “In addition to having the highest concentration of biliverdin recorded for any animal, these lizards have somehow evolved a resistance to bile pigment toxicity,” said Zachary Rodriguez, the lead author of a paper published in the journal Science Advances.
Rodriguez, along with his team, examined 51 species of New Guinea lizards that included six green-blooded species. The scientists found that there are four individual families of green-blooded lizards, each of which likely shared a red-blood ancestor. “We were excited by the complex history of these animals and surprised by the breadth of green-blooded lineages across lizards,” said Rodriguez.
As per Phys.org, 27 DNA samples from green-blooded lizards and 92 samples from closely related red-blooded lizards were analyzed. The results showed that red blood was most probably the ancestral state and also that green blood likely evolved four times.
Explaining about the future goals, Rodriguez said, “Our next goal is to identify the genes responsible for green blood.”
As per New York Times, biology has found many animals having different colored bloods too. Some insects and spiders have copper-containing blood pigment that’s clear unless it attaches to oxygen and then it turns blue. Squids and octopuses have intense blue blood, whereas, icefish in Antarctica have clear blood. Marine worms called lamp shells also tend to have violet to pink blood.