Before examining human skin color, it would be best to take a brief look at the importance of coloration in other species. Some fish communicate with the skin. They contract minuscule color cells that dramatically create, destroy and recreate other patterns. One second the fish is bright red in threat, the next second it flees and blanches completely silver-white. Reptiles, especially lizards, also use the skin for communication by varying their color pigments.
Dominant males distend their red throat wattles, raise their skin hackles, and turn black.
The subordinate color is a pale, washed out green. Many species of fish, amphibians and reptiles use the skin colors to signal mood changes. A species of fish, the cichlid is shown here in a variety of social colors, each having a certain meaning and used in a certain context. Mammals have lost the expandable color cells. With the coming of hair most of the bare skin was covered.