Defensive blood: Prasinohaema skinks bile blood

Apparently these lizards have loads of Biliverdin in their blood making their blood green! Besides a defense against parasites I figure this is also an effective defense against predators.

I would love to inject this trait into my world's creature(s).

1. Does anyone know what the drawbacks to having this kind of blood would be?
2. Could a humanoid possess this trait without encumbrance? The article is vague and mentions nothing about what adaptations the lizard went through to have this kind of blood. I have a hunch that I can't back-up that this may affect hemoglobin and thus affect oxygen efficiency.

3. Also Biliverdin is toxic to us but I'm not sure what exactly it kills in us. Perhapse if that killing vector was sealed... all good?

4. If this just isn't practical in a humanoid, are there any other defensive blood traits I could use? I've thought of xenomorphs acid blood that just didn't seem practical. Thank you!

Edit Duplicate Question: Doesn't have anything to do with "Other blood colors". I'm asking about bile blood's potential physiological drawbacks (since nearly everything in biology is a trade) and the possibility of other blood-born defense mechanisms. The fact that the blood is green is just a side-note.

posted about 7 years ago

Roshiron‭

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