The Colors of Blood

[Corax]

So I keep feeling very curious about the nonhuman people of Roshar. Dysian Aimians and their violet blood make some sense, as we know Rosharan creatures from greatshells to cremlings bleed violet blood. Humans make sense in that their human, and obviously share red blood with other Yolish (non-Fain) life, like pigs, horses, chickens, etc.

But does anything else on Roshar, besides the Parshendi, have orange blood? I just don't know what to make of it!

I'm trying to read up on info, but while biology is a strong subject for me, chemistry is not. I'd love to see if anyone else has thoughts or insights about this. 

In any case, here's a link to an article about the many variations of blood in real life critters here on Earth.

Edited September 7, 2018 by Corax
Clarification

[Calderis]

Siah also have orange blood. 

Quote

Havoc (paraphrased)

What color is Aimian blood?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Good question! The question is, which type of Aimian? That would be my first response. The two different varieties have two different colors of blood.

source

And now I can't find the WoB which says one is purple one is orange..

Edit: huh. It's literally the same wob, reported differently in Theoryland than on Arcanum. 

Here's the theoryland version. 

Quote

HAVOC

What colour is Aimian blood? Is it purple or orange?

BRANDON SANDERSON

That's a really good question. It depends on the kind of Aimian. One has purple blood and one has orange blood.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Calderis

[Corax]

Thank you, @Calderis, that is interesting. Especially since I would have expected Siah Aimians and maybe even Natan people of having blood that was bluish, if anything. 

But, isn't the main difference between Theoryland and Arcanum that Dragonsteel peeps have gone through and cleaned up some answers? It seems possible that the theoryland answer may have been accidentally inaccurate. Either way, thanks for the reference!

[+Spicker]

Here is a cool picture summary of blood chemistry, but we don't have orange blood on Earth so we don't see which chemicals would be orange. Not specifically relevant for any theories, but I thought it was interesting to see what life on Earth is compared to Roshar. 
Edit: After rereading the green blood section, it talks about higher concentrations appearing as a light red. Maybe it could hypothetically be involved in Parshendi blood. 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Spicker

[+Child of Hodor]

On 9/7/2018 at 4:05 PM, Calderis said:

Siah also have orange blood. 

And now I can't find the WoB which says one is purple one is orange..

Edit: huh. It's literally the same wob, reported differently in Theoryland than on Arcanum. 

Here's the theoryland version. 

 

Orange for Siah would fit with Singers. They are humanoid in build, but composed of crustacean-like creatures. Singers are humanoid, but they grow carapace. Not red-blooded humans, not violet-blooded crustacean, but a mix between.  Now this doesn't work with a color wheel unless you go the long way around ,  but maybe the mixing of blood protein types is not literally like mixing dye.

   @Spicker Thanks for posting the great blood chart! I'd never seen one that laid it out like that before. 

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Child of Hodor

[Corax]

4 hours ago, Child of Hodor said:

Orange for Siah would fit with Singers. They are humanoid in build, but composed of crustacean-like creatures. Singers are humanoid, but they grow carapace. Not red-blooded humans, not violet-blooded crustacean, but a mix between. 

 

 A small thing; it's the Dysian Aimians (the Sleepless) that are composed of Cremlings. Siah Aimians are different, like Axies.

ETA: as for orange blood, the above linked article has this to say:

Quote

Like other insects, cockroaches have tracheae that transport oxygen and have no respiratory pigment in their hemolymph. The liquid is usually colorless. Females that are producing eggs may have pale orange hemolymph, however. Inside their bodies, an organ called the fat body makes an orange protein called vitellogenin. This gives rise to a major egg yolk protein called vitellin. Vitellogenin is secreted into the hemolymph, giving it a slight color.

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Corax
Extra info

[Honorless]

Sorry about the necro but I just found a really good source talking about the same topic and I think it might be of interest and help to future readers:

https://www.tor.com/2013/07/05/the-ecology-of-roshar-continued-quest-for-blood/