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I have this creatures which were hiding underground for millennia. They are, from the beginning of their history, exclusively nocturnal.

They emerged back on surface after moon disappeared (irrelevant how) adding another nail to the coffin of human race, which beside fatal environmental changes, now face these creatures. With the moon out, the distant stars simply do not provide enough light to repel them.

I googled some creatures which were discovered in deep caves or living so deep in ocean that they never experienced sunlight (Like in my case). They are nearly translucent or completely pale,what i did not found is what would really happened to them if they were exposed to sunlight

Bonus question: Beside UV light, would man-made sources harm them - like laser pointers or xenon lights?

Description of the creature:

  • Translucent skin except calloused parts, but flesh is solid milky white with visible veins and muscle fibers.
  • No eyes
  • 2 pair of ears for Infrasonic wave length and second for Ultrasound
  • Very long fingers with 5 joints
  • Omnivorous
  • Quadrupedal, but with ability to stand bipedal
  • Imagine nasty looking vile meerkat in size of lion
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    $\begingroup$ "With the moon out, the distant stars simply do not provide enough light to repel them": Every month there are one or two nights with no visible Moon in the sky: (new Moon... And, in addition, most of the time the Moon is above the horizon for only a part of the night (and a part of the day, of course); that is to say, during most nights there are a few hours with no Moon. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    May 30, 2020 at 14:31
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    $\begingroup$ ears for Infrasonic wave length ummm... reality-checking - a resonating cavity for 15Hz in air has a minimum 5.7 m in length (quarter wave resonator, opened one end, closed on the other) - make it 8m+ for 10Hz. How large you said were those lions they supposedly resemble in size? $\endgroup$
    – Adrian Colomitchi
    May 30, 2020 at 14:32
  • $\begingroup$ Elephants hear under 20Hz right? So i do not see it impossible without 5.7m long tube $\endgroup$
    – Prahara
    May 30, 2020 at 14:54
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    $\begingroup$ True, one doesn't need a resonator to hear low frequency sounds (humans hear sounds at 110Hz with a quarter wavelength of 0.7m), but the farther away from resonance the frequency is, the more sensitive the receptor needs to be. In particular, the elephants hear infrasound using their trunk and feet and the intensity of what they are able to hear in infrasound is far from a whisper. $\endgroup$
    – Adrian Colomitchi
    May 30, 2020 at 15:49
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    $\begingroup$ Relevant: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, 1953, Chapter 14: A gnome describes the horrors of the Overworld. $\endgroup$
    – user535733
    May 30, 2020 at 18:27

3 Answers 3

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In the UK, for most of the year, absolutely nothing. Cloudy much of the time...however, being used to mild, steady consistent they would suffer from the cold, the bitter wind, and the lashing rain coming from nowhere would be an unpleasant surprise.

One of two months of the year they might detect a heat source overhead, but since they'd be under umbrellas anyway by then they would not be in any danger of sunburn.

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What would happen to them if exposed to sunlight?

Very likely severe burns caused by UV radiation on all exposed areas if they venture in the open light in any place not too close to the polar regions.

Lacking any pigment to protect them from the sunlight they would get burns within minutes at most.

Then, after the sunburns, they would be also more likely to develop cancers induced by the UV radiations.

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    $\begingroup$ May I ask, why polar region would offer some protection for them? That sounds interesting $\endgroup$
    – Prahara
    May 30, 2020 at 14:26
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    $\begingroup$ @Prahara the light is less intense and with a weaker UV component, since it has to travel through a much thicker layer of atmosphere. $\endgroup$
    – LSerni
    May 30, 2020 at 14:31
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Visible light isn't energetic enough to affect tissues. So, laser pointers and Xenon lights would not be an issue.

Sunlight, on the other hand, with its UV? It would be for them like for you entering a radioactive oven. Immediate burning pain, everywhere. Blisters and erithema forming within minutes. Once back into darkness, still strong possibility of superinfection. Also, fever and dehydration.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thats perfect, I wanted to avoid exactly that. Happy to hear that regular lights would be harmless. Any chance you know, how powerful UV lamp would have to be to at least cause something more then nuisance? $\endgroup$
    – Prahara
    May 30, 2020 at 14:59
  • $\begingroup$ @Prahara I can tell you from experience that a 20W UV-C sterilizing lamp causes immediate burning pain at a distance of about 30 centimeters, and I have phototype IV skin. The effects on an albino would have been severe. It would surely be possible to build more powerful lamps, if only by connecting several 20W bulbs with parabolic reflectors. The same techniques employed in building UV-A tanning lamps can be employed to build UV-C burners, it's just the bulb coating that changes. $\endgroup$
    – LSerni
    May 30, 2020 at 15:33

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