Monday 14 December 2009

Breath Deep!

This is very cool: SEM microscope Pictures of Spider Lungs. Makes me wish I had an SEM lying around. ;)
Spiders don't have tidal lungs as you or I have, but instead folded structures called book lungs. They're so-called because they're folded in like ridges, hanging down like pages from a book. The folds are highly vascularized, and take up oxygen directly into the blood through a passive process. They're quite remarkable, and something that makes Spiders and Scorpions quite amazing!

2 comments:

Cate said...

Howdy! I chose your blog to be one of the blogs to which I pass on the "Best Blog Award" -- check out my latest post to grab the picture and pass on the award too, if you'd like. :)

dragonfly said...

Very cool! And yes, it would be fun to have an SEM laying around!


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