Okay I was painting up my Dark Eldar, in between I was reading my Tyranid codex and read the entry where Tyranids and Orks were sealed away in some bubble. It's established that 'Nids make specific 'Nids the deal with certain situations and such. Which I always find cool.

Now this got me thinking. What makes 'Nids their respective colours? Marines colours are because of their various chapters, Guardsmen - Regiments, Eldar - colours of craftworlds etc. They all wear amours and can choose their respective colours. 'Nids aren't like that.

So what makes them their respective colours?

If this is an active decision on behalf of the hive mind, would 'Nids change their colour to blend into environments or for example the 'Nids are fighting Alpha legion on a planet they are trying to devour. The Legion repel the initial onslaught. Would the Hive Mind change colour to sort of resemble the Legion, in a weird way to blend in. I know a nid is not a Marine but they are insects, so using that logic they may represent the colours to a degree to 'blend in' since admittedly if yo look directly at them it's clearly a 'Nid out the corner of your eye in the heat of battle seeing your colours you may assume it's a friendly? Through extention of this if the 'Nids devoured the world but future planets in that legion were held by the Legion - assuming the colour choice is an active decision - would the Hive Fleet in future assaults in that system bear colours of the Legion either to blend in or a way to institutions fear that they just recently devoured an Alpha Legion world etc.

Sorry if I'm not clear here.

I always just figured that the "Hive Fleet colours" were a tool by gw to differentiate the different Hive Fleets and provide a basis for modelling and painting according to personal taste.

From a strict fluff standpoint, I would simply assume their colours reflect whatever environmental factors the Hive seeks to exploit be it for camouflage or intimidation.

Of course, I could be mistaken but I don't know any specific examples of colour being used to identify Hive Fleets in the fluff.

I think the schemes laid down for the various hive fleets are kind of like a default setting. When a fleet arrives on a given planet they will be their normal hive fleet specific colours, but the longer the battle goes on the more you would start seeing creatures with colours more reflective of the environment the fighting is taking place in, as killed and injured nids are reabsorbed and recycled. When the planet is completely stripped, almost all of the nids would be absorbed, and fresher ones created in the default setting in preparation for the next victim.

Pretty much what I assume Fleet colors, default, and then change depending on environment.

the Tyranids take the colors from the biomass they have consumed. Not for camouflage
.

Source?

2nded. That doesn't really make sense. Nids eat every single biomass on the planet, if that was true then wouldn't they all be....I don't know. Brown, green, or something.

Source?

I'm asking because I couldn't find anything, so if you have a source I'd love to give it a read.

I always assumed "Tyranid" was a broad, catch-all term for a family of space-faring bugs. In a real-world example, take the term "mosquito"; we hear it, and think "small, biting insect" - They're all the same. Whereas there are over 3500 distinct kinds of mosquito, each with their own coloring and DNA make-up. So "Tyranid" could conceivably cover hundreds, if not thousands, of color schemes and hivefleets...

Is there a pink tyranid in fluff yet