Which statement describes the location of spectrin in red blood cell membranes?

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Spectrin sits on the inner surface of the red blood cell plasma membrane as part of the membrane skeleton, forming a mesh that gives the cell its shape and elasticity. It is not embedded in the lipid bilayer itself; instead, it associates with the membrane through adaptor proteins like ankyrin and actin. That makes it a peripheral membrane protein—attached to the membrane by noncovalent interactions rather than spanning the membrane. This arrangement explains why spectrin plays a structural, not an enzymatic or receptor, role in the cell. It isn’t a cytosolic enzyme, nor a transmembrane receptor, and it isn’t integral to the membrane.