Oxygen binding proteins are large multi unit proteins ideally suited for the study of structure function relationships in biological molecules. This book, based on a Symposium at the Xth International Biophysics Congress in 1990, provides a synthesis of recent advances in our knowledge of invertebrate oxygen carriers such as hemoglobins, hemocyanins, and hemorythrins. Comprehensive reviews are combined with new research results of importance to all biochemists and molecular biologists interested in oxygen carriers in general, their gene structure and comparative biochemistry. Of particular value are the studies of invertebrate oxygen binding proteins which perform their function and have structures vastly different from the vertebrate hemoglobins and myoglobins, as well as numerous examples of modern molecular techniques as applied to research on this diverse group of proteins.