Erythrocruorin
erythrocruorin
[ə‚rith·rə′kru̇·ə·rən]Erythrocruorin
a hemoglobin (oxygen-carrying pigment) of certain invertebrates, such as leeches and Daphnia. Unlike the hemoglobins in vertebrates, erythrocruorin is found not in the erythrocytes but in the hemolymph or blood plasma (usually in dissolved form). Erythrocruorin has a higher molecular weight than hemoglobin in vertebrates (2,750,000–3,000,000), since the pigments dissolved in the blood usually form large molecular aggregates.