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Arthropods are characterized by segmented bodies, an exoskeleton made from chitin, and joint appendages. They have an internal body cavity (hemocoel) and an open circulatory system which employs hemolymph, a fluid that does not distinguish between interstitial fluid like lymph and oxygen carrying fluid like blood as in most vertebrates. They use a copper-based oxygen carrier molecule instead of the iron-based hemoglobin, which floats freely around in the hemolymph and is not bound to blood cell proteins. They do not have a dedicated and separate branch of their circulatory system just to oxygenate; internal organs (and cells) are simply bathed in this fluid; many arthropods (e.g., insects) oxygenate directly from the air through tubules connected to holes (spiracles) in their body segments. Their nervous system is 'ladder-like' on their ventral surface, and their brains formed around the esophagus from fused segment nerve ganglia.

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11y ago

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