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Do insects have hearts ? If so how do their hearts work ?


Yes, insects have hearts that pump hemolymph (kind of insect blood) around their systems. Though their heart is quite different from a vertebrate heart, there are some of the genes that direct heart development in vertebrates and invertebrates that are very similar.
Katydid

Most insects have hearts. Some of the smaller types don't. An insect heart is fairly simple, it's basically a muscular tube that contacts from one end to the other, forcing blood through it. Insects have an open circulatory system. What this means is that the blood flows from the blood vessels out the end into the body cavity. It sloshes around the body cavity until it gets sucked back into the other open end of the blood system somewhere else. This is in contrast to mammals where the blood never leaves the blood vessels at any stage.
Gaspode


Dr K

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