Why are aliens black but start off white at 'birth'

[touchthepigeon]

OK as i am sure we all know that aliens are supposedly balck due to there short life span and the colour of their skin is due to bruising as the body degrades.

Bruising is when blood vessels burst or split under the surface of the skin and the escaped blood turns the area black or dark in humans because blood de oxygenises or somehting?!. As i am sure we have all had nasty black scabs.

BUT here is the clincher...................
Aliens do not have red blood they have yellow blood so if this clots under the surface of the skin then surely it would turn a diffrent colour thean occurs in humans with red blood........ Stop me if i am a wrong!!!!!
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[Inkmonkey]

Well, frogs are black as tadpoles and green as adults, and they have red blood. Color changes like that just happen, I suppose.
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[Warrior Alien]

Okay to answer your topic question, the reason that Aliens are black at birth is because, just like all insects and arachnids, when molting their exoskeleton is very soft and has very little blood reaching the surface of the shell and therefore is white, it is also because of the lack of oxygen and heat required to harden the exoskeleton and adjust its color pigments. A tarantula, for example, comes out of its skin almost see-through and if it is deprived of enough heat it will stay white longer.
As for the blood clot's color change, that is a clincher . Do you think that the acid in its blood could have a significant effect when it's mixed with the Alien's "slime" coating, you know, some acids with some bases create a dark blue color? If the "slime" is a strong base it could very well be what prevents the Alien's acid blood from eating through its body. Maybe Aliens are just a REALLY dark blue?
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Earth first....we'll screw up the other planets later.

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[RobinHood3000]

I think it's just because they have an opaque exoskeleton that develops black because it's most conducive to hiding in shadow. And because it looks a lot more threatening than pink polka-dots with bright blue pinstripes.
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[20xx]

The guy two posts up stole my answer

[Aramor]

[Corporal Waffle]

hi i dont quite agree to that. Aliens can live foe several thousands years,
maby millions... and the reason why they are black, is because of the enviroment. (black)

if there had been a blue "world" where every thing is blue, the aliens would evolve to be blue when they chestbusted.

they are white in the eggs because the inside off the eggs are white.

by the way...
did u know tha aliens can eat metal and transform it into biological material, just to stay alive?
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[Blaster]

Vevlaa, your understanding of adaptive shading seems to be a bit simplistic. And for somebody who asks so many questions, you seem to be positing a lot of "facts" on the subject.

[Aramor]

[Lyingbastard]

Aliens are essentially an advanced form of ant or wasp. The chestburster stage, since it develops inside a living creature, is not exposed to light and so it's chitinous shell is pale. However, after it emerges and molts, the chitin quickly darkens, much like the exoskeleton of most insects.

[Simon_Says]

Okay okay okay, here's the sledge hammer.

The xenomorphs become black because they develop their exo skeleton over time. The black color is due to the xenomorphs tendancies to stick to dark, shadowy, and clausterphobic areas. It's harder to see a black object in a black area than it is to see pink polka-dots with bright blue pinstripes in a black area no?

The glossy effect is perhaps due to the effect of the xenomorph creating a new layer to the exoskeleton. The slime on the xenomorph cements to form a hard layer protecting the creature. Because this slime is black upon hardening, and that the young drone does not have as thick exoskeleton as the warrior or later stages, the younger xenomorphs are paler than the older ones.

So take your pick, warrior alien's or mine. I think both are valid.

Vevlaa: Chestburster in the egg are white? First of all, the chestbursters are inside the facehugger which is inside the egg. The interior of the egg or facehugger (or host for that matter) would be black due to lack of illumination, thus your theory would result in the chestburster being black upon exit of the host. Your theory I'm afraid, is invalid.

The bruising theory is not good simply because the xenomorphs have exoskeletons, and internal bleeding or tissue damage should be invisible under the shell.
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[Corporal Waffle]

i think ined to correct myself.....

"they are white in the eggs because the inside off the eggs are white."


as "they" are facehuggers**

sorry !
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[Corporal Waffle]

[some random guest]

I dunked my little sister in black paint once, and it stayed on her for days. So maybe aliens dunk themselves into black paint.


I was bored, by the way
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Alien3 isn't crap, FOX executives are!

[Behemothic Leviathonic]

[Inkmonkey]

[Simon_Says]

Okay, you're in a small tunnel, with no flashlight, no illumination. whatsoever

What's the color you see? No matter what, it's black. Even if the sky is purple, the damn unilluminated tunnel is friggen black.

Color is only visible under illumination. Becasue the xenomorphs tend to stick to dark places, where there's little or no light, their surroundings are black(ish). Black is actually caused by lack of illumination, it's not a 'color' technically.

Inside an egg, there is no illumination, hence it should be black.
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[Mr. Z]

It's probab' just hormones released . Like humans with freckles and tans
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[Blaster]

You're barking up the wrong tree, Simon. The reason why an organism would adapt to blend in with its surrounding environment would be based upon the fact that such camoflage would protect it from predators (e. g., counter-shading on penguins, insects that look like leaves, chameleons, etc). The mere absence of light would not be enough to cause a gradual darkening of a species via evolution. Empirically we know that those organisms that live in lightless environments tend to be rather pale (such as fish that live in deep underground lakes).

So for a xenomorph's coloring to be an evolutionary adaptation, it would not only have to live in a dark (or black) environment, but also that coloring would have to protect it from predators by allowing it to blend in. Although I suppose an alternative explanation would be that black is the natural color of whatever material comprises the xenos and that they actually have no pigment at all.

[Aramor]

Maybe there this way caus Giger wanted it to be this way?
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[Inkmonkey]

Cease your relentless logic!
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[Blaster]

[Simon_Says]

No you're not.

You could theoretically also develop camaflouge to ambush prey. But I agree, the color must be due to the substances that constitute the resin the xenomorphs use for exoskeletons and nest wallpaper.
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[Blaster]

Yeah, you're right; it could have enabled them to catch prey more easily. But that is still an adaptation the increases the likelihood of survival.

[InvaderJess]