Why is blue such a rare color in nature?

I think the sky uses up all the blue that is needed in nature

There are certainly some beautiful birds and fish that are blue.

I would also argue that the color nature takes on is largely a factor of survival. When you say blue animals, the first thing I think of is fish. Small fish. Of course the ocean is blue (or blue-green depending on your opinion), so blue is a logical camouflage color so as not to be noticed at distances. could it be that animals in general are not blue because their surroundings aren’t?

That’s interesting, uber.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, but an alkaline condition as I know it is opposite of an acidic condition.

I associate acidity with irritation and alkalinity with calmness, so the statement reads to me that there are few living systems that are more calm than not. The sky and the oceans are the two biggest blue things I can think of and they are both associated with calmness also.

like i said, this is not a scientific analysis

I recall a theory that we have a defense mechanism to avoid blue food because it indicated poison in the wild. I searched and can’t find anything to support that, but maybe we evolved a defense against eating moldy things?

The color blue is just a reflected wavelength of light that’s not used. For example, the chlorophyll in a plant leaf is a pigment that operates by using blue-violet and red light. It reflects green light because it can’t use it, which is why the plant looks green.

The shorter wavelengths of light have more energy. Therefore more things “use” blue-violet light( which is shorter than red etc) because it contains more energy.

I know there are alot of blue birds.

@fireside the sky is only blue because of the ocean though :)

@Grisson yea bright colors are usually an indication of poison or otherwise dangerous. Take my mandarin for example, hes poisonous. :)

@Perchik ok that explains plants, which i was pretty sure about already as coral is the same way since it has an algae living it that gives it, its color, but what about animals?

@uberbatman the sky is not blue only because of the ocean

The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air.

However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue.

As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white.

good show sir :P

@uber – yeah, what jac said!

@fireside still the point stands that the sky isnt blue because of anything doing with alkaline conditions or the sky being “calm” :P

Umm, jac?
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I didn’t say that the sky itself was calm, just that it was something else blue that was associated with calm. Oh and when the sky isn’t “calm” it’s not blue : )

There’s a lot of blue frogs running..well.. hopping around, and leezards too.

Why dont we ever see animals with blue hair?

@uberbatman Have you never been to Miami?

@uberbatman Apparently you haven’t been to my local mall on Friday and Saturday evenings.

my grandmother has blue hair

Heck, did you know that magenta ain’t a color?

@Grisson no unfortunately not

@chyna i actually used to have blue hair :P.

Anyway im obviously talking about naturally blue hair. I mean how fucking cool would a blue dog be?!

awesome robmandu

umm…. pink (magenta) is a color and it just so happens to be my favorite

Yeah, I’m not real big on eating blue food…

There is a relatively narrow range of pigments that cause coloration in animals. Pteridine compounds produce yellows, carotenoids produce reds and oranges, and eumelanin produces browns and blacks. The blue pigments that are common in the plant world are principally anthocyanins (these will give blue in high pH conditions, red in low pH).

Only one blue pigment has been found in animals, an as yet unidentified compound found in a few frog species and perhaps some other snakes and amphibians. All other instances of blue coloration in animals are either the result of incorporating blue pigments from algae (in the case of some fish) or are “structural” colors produced by the scattering of light or light wave interference. All blue coloration in birds and butterflies, for example, is structural in nature. Blue eyes in humans are caused by the same Rayleigh scattering phenomenon @tennesseejac mentioned.

So it would seem that only one remote corner of the animal kingdom has evolved an actual blue pigment. But the fact that it does exist would seem to indicate that it is possible in vertebrate biochemistry.

Because the world doesn’t want me to see my favorite color as much as I would like.

@ über have you not seen a blue dog before? First there is “the blue dog” by Rodregue. Then there is a blue heeler and a blue tick hound. Heck the south is infested with blue dogs.

< < still freaking out that my eyes aren’t really blue. They just scatter the light so as to appear blue. What the frick color are they then?!?!?

@Harp im not aware of any fish that have a symbotic relationship with algae. I know most coral has zooxanthellae algae living in it which gives it its color, but ive never heard of a fish having a similar relationship. Do you know of any in particular?

What an interesting thread this turned out to be! Who knew?

@gooch neither of those dogs are blue though?

@uberbatman – really interesting info in the details section. i never realized there was a connection with red cabbage being one of the most basic vegetables, and it turning everything blue (like Marina mentioned in the blue food thread). GQ

@uberbatman It’s not a symbiosis, really. They just appropriate the pigment of the algae they consume. Blue cichlids derive their color this way, which is why aquarists feed them pigment-rich spirulina algae to brighten them up.

@robmandu Don’t freak out. Your eyes are still blue.

The physical mechanism that makes an object be a given color is that the object scatters (reflects or transmits) that color wavelength of light and absorbs the other wavelengths.

The first few chapters of the book “Dancing Woo Li Masters” by Gary Zukav does a good job explaining this phenomenon.

@uberbatman
THE SKY!
And, whenever there is a color that you just can not find on earth, the flowers will disprove that.

@Harp good point, i didnt really think about spirulina, we use that stuff at work all the time lol.
cichlids are by far the most boring fish :P

Oh wait, looks like someone found magenta. Looks like it got lost in the clutter is all.

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Thanks, @Mirza.

this is soooo cool….

Tangential Question: If something is white does that mean it is lacking in all pigment/color, or is it the opposite?

i know when referring to light, white is the presence of all color and black is the absence of all color, but is this any different when talking about pigments?

Pigment absorbs various colors of light (often for the purpose of using its energy e.g. chlorophyl). So something with no pigment would be white (or clear transparent), because it would absorb no color, but reflect or transmit all colors.

Thank you sir :)

The big squawky birds that raid my feeders sometimes look blue in the bright sunlight. What the hell are they called? Oh yeah, grackles. Nasty things, grackles.

im blue da dumde dadue dadum de dad ud da ihave a blue house in a blue country

i was wondering if anyone caught that in the topics :P

@ignorantsavage
I was waiting for someone to do that…