Expert: Joy Ramos - 4/16/2006

Question
GEORGINA ASKHAM
YEAR 11 BIOLOGY
STUARTHOLME SCHOOL
BRISBANE

I am currently completing a year 11 Biology assignment and need help with some questions that i can't answer if you know the answer to some of these questions please help me!!!

1. Why are FROG and FISH red blood cells ovoid and long in shape whereas Human red blood cells are discoid (biconcave)does it help their cells function in a particular way or help with some kind of process?

2. Why are Frog red blood cells much larger than Human and Fish red blood cells, does it help their cells function in a particular way or help with some kind of process?

3. Why does frog blood not contain platelets, what helps their blood clot instead?

THANKYOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP
YOUR FAITHFULLY
GEORGINA ASKHAM  

Answer
Hi, Georgina. I did a little research about your questions since I wasn't aware of these facts in frog/fish cells. As it turns out, non-mammalian vertebrates (animals with a backbone but don't have hair) like frogs and fish have blood cells that have a nucleus in each one and are thus capable of cell division. Since human red blood cells don't have a nucleus, they're biconcave since there's no big nucleus that's normally found in the middle of the cell. I believe this is also why frog's blood is larger since it has all the "machinery" inside it to be able to divide into daughter cells. They also have "thrombocytes" instead of platelets to help in blood clotting.