# If Vulcans have green blood shouldn't they have green skin?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-vulcans-have-green-blood-shouldnt-they-have-green-skin/500408>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 20, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-vulcans-have-green-blood-shouldnt-they-have-green-skin/500408 "2009-06-20T17:53:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-vulcans-have-green-blood-shouldnt-they-have-green-skin/500408/21 "2009-06-21T15:29:13Z")

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> [@DSYoungEsq](#):
>
> But I think your point is that skin pigments don’t have to allow you to see the color of the fluid in the capillaries (as is obviously the case in sub-Saharan Africans, for example).

Is this why our hands and feet tend to look pinker? Less pigment? Or am I just off?

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-vulcans-have-green-blood-shouldnt-they-have-green-skin/500408/22 "2009-06-21T15:42:38Z")

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Spock’s blood is green, it is true, but for optimal protection from solar radiation on Vulcan, the skin can have only the slightest greenish tinge, which is why the adventitia of Vulcan blood vessels have unusual optical refraction capabilities which affect skin color.

I’t’s a different story for those greenish-skinned women whom no man can resist, as they have a biliverdin-based blood cell hemochrome.

> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> I’ve seen a lot of blood.

I trust this is not a statement you’ve framed and hung on your office wall. 🆒

> [@](#):
>
> But perhaps not that of actual royalty, I admit.

I once diagnosed a biopsy from a family member of an Arab oil sheik. It was reddish-pink and blue.

Then again, the dyes we use make everyone’s tissue come out in shades of reddish-pink and blue. It’s a very democratic system.

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