Mysterious Lizards Have Green Blood

[Still Waters]

Prasinohaema skinks, residents of New Guinea, have green bones, green muscles and green tongues. Even their blood is green. And it's also a deadly poison. But how their blood got so green, and so toxic, remains something of a mystery.

http://io9.com/this-...ll-y-1441990907

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

I blame the Vulcans.

[keninsc]

Lobsters have blue blood.

[+OverSword]

I wonder if thier blood is based on copper instead of iron?

[Insanity]

I wonder if thier blood is based on copper instead of iron?

Horseshoecrabs have hemocyanin instead of hemoglobin in their blood, which is a copper-based protein. When oxygenated it is blue, when deoxygenated it is colorless.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Sulfur IIRC burns green. Could these lizards use sulfur like we use iron?

[Sundew]

The article is a bit misleading, it's not that the skink's green blood can kill a human, although it might be toxic if eaten or injected, rather it says that this chemical which can also be produced in human infants and in people with damaged livers is at a concentration that would be fatal in humans. I was expecting the blood to be a defense against predators but they theorize that it is a defense against the Malaria parasites.