Color of blood: Pigment helps stage symbiosis in squid

The relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid and the bacterium Vibrio fischeri is well chronicled, but a group of microbiologists adds a new wrinkle to the story: it seems that the blood pigment hemocyanin plays a dual role in helping the squid recruit and sustain the bacterium it uses to avoid predation. "In the early events of symbiosis, hemocyanin appears to have antimicrobial activity," says one co-author.

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