Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
The Xenomorphs from the Alien movies such as Alien Romulus , are one of the most deadly creatures of any franchise, their stalking ability, and sense of perception near-unmatched, despite them seemingly posessing no visible eyes.
In this video, we’ll try and answer the question; can Xenomorphs see?
Beneath the dome of a Xenomorphs head, can be seen a pair of empty eye sockets, likely due to them taking traits of the host organism, but, if these don’t function as vision for the creature to perceive its surroundings. How does it do this?
There are a few possible explanations, one is that the head is lined with sensory pits which detect electrical signals.
This sense is called “electroreception” and is possessed by Sharks on Earth, allowing them to sense the tiny amounts of electricity created by muscular movement or twitches in other living animals.
Another is that the Xenomorph is capable of echolocation, which would make sense with the screeching and hissing noises they often make, similar to how a Bat or a Whale will emit a sound, which will travel out, then when the soundwave hits an object and travels back, the animal has a specialised organ which can detect the sound return and pinpoint where it came from.
It is thought Xenomorphs can also detect pheromones given off by other creatures. A Xenomorph will know not to attack a host who has been impregnated, especially with a Queen, then they will not attack at all to not endanger the Queen chestburster; however an exeption will be made for a host carrying a regular Xenomorph inside if it is hostile enough to endanger multiple Xenomorphs itself, such as a Colonial Marine, or a Predator, then the Xenomorphs will continue their attack.
Another is that they use their inner jaw much like a snake uses its tongue by tasting the air around it, which can work similarly to a sense of smell, this would explain how the Xenomorph also has no nose.
These extrasensory functions would also explain how a Xenomorph is able to see a Cloaked Predator, where the camouflaging system works by distorting light around the wearer. This only affects visible light, but does not hide smell or pheromones.
In some of the Alien movies, we actually do see through the Xenomorphs point of view; in Alien 3, when the Runner Alien chases the prisoners through the tunnels, in Alien Covenant, when the Protomorph reaches the Covenant ship. These are presented to us the audience, as sight like ours, but through a distorted lense, as if they do see like us, but through the clear dome. What is unclear though, is whether this is to be taken literally how the Xenomorph sees, or if this is just a representation for us.
In 1st person videogames were we get to play as an Alien, the sight is also presented in this way, but again, most likely just for our benefit, as when you play as a Predator, the default vision is normal vision like ours, so it is more convenient from a gameplay perspective.
In some early concept artwork for the design of the Xenomorph, some iterations had large, black, insect-like eyes. These were changed though in the final design, as they decided it would be scarier if the audience didn’t know what the creature was looking at.
As always, let me know your thoughts, and I’ll see you in the next video.
This article uses material from the Xenopedia wiki at Fandom and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
The Xenomorphs from the Alien movies such as Alien Romulus , are one of the most deadly creatures of any franchise, their stalking ability, and sense of perception near-unmatched, despite them seemingly posessing no visible eyes.
In this video, we’ll try and answer the question; can Xenomorphs see?
Beneath the dome of a Xenomorphs head, can be seen a pair of empty eye sockets, likely due to them taking traits of the host organism, but, if these don’t function as vision for the creature to perceive its surroundings. How does it do this?
There are a few possible explanations, one is that the head is lined with sensory pits which detect electrical signals.
This sense is called “electroreception” and is possessed by Sharks on Earth, allowing them to sense the tiny amounts of electricity created by muscular movement or twitches in other living animals.
Another is that the Xenomorph is capable of echolocation, which would make sense with the screeching and hissing noises they often make, similar to how a Bat or a Whale will emit a sound, which will travel out, then when the soundwave hits an object and travels back, the animal has a specialised organ which can detect the sound return and pinpoint where it came from.
It is thought Xenomorphs can also detect pheromones given off by other creatures. A Xenomorph will know not to attack a host who has been impregnated, especially with a Queen, then they will not attack at all to not endanger the Queen chestburster; however an exeption will be made for a host carrying a regular Xenomorph inside if it is hostile enough to endanger multiple Xenomorphs itself, such as a Colonial Marine, or a Predator, then the Xenomorphs will continue their attack.
Another is that they use their inner jaw much like a snake uses its tongue by tasting the air around it, which can work similarly to a sense of smell, this would explain how the Xenomorph also has no nose.
These extrasensory functions would also explain how a Xenomorph is able to see a Cloaked Predator, where the camouflaging system works by distorting light around the wearer. This only affects visible light, but does not hide smell or pheromones.
In some of the Alien movies, we actually do see through the Xenomorphs point of view; in Alien 3, when the Runner Alien chases the prisoners through the tunnels, in Alien Covenant, when the Protomorph reaches the Covenant ship. These are presented to us the audience, as sight like ours, but through a distorted lense, as if they do see like us, but through the clear dome. What is unclear though, is whether this is to be taken literally how the Xenomorph sees, or if this is just a representation for us.
In 1st person videogames were we get to play as an Alien, the sight is also presented in this way, but again, most likely just for our benefit, as when you play as a Predator, the default vision is normal vision like ours, so it is more convenient from a gameplay perspective.
In some early concept artwork for the design of the Xenomorph, some iterations had large, black, insect-like eyes. These were changed though in the final design, as they decided it would be scarier if the audience didn’t know what the creature was looking at.
As always, let me know your thoughts, and I’ll see you in the next video.
This article uses material from the Xenopedia wiki at Fandom and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
