Are stress marks a myth or are they an issue?

[MungoAster]

So in my early stages of beardie-keeping, I observed my female beardie would escape my male beardie by climbing places he couldn't. He was growing faster than her so she was smaller and lighter. We have a stick that she still has now (in her recently given, own terrarium) but before any of that, I had no knowledge of colour changes in beardie's skin. I had seen this "discolouration" in her and assumed she was ill, I had researched it and found the term "Stress Marks." There were photos of the exact same thing as her, darker and even black colours in the body and the distinctive black lines. I put 2 and 2 together and found out she must have been in stress. Maybe the male was harming her again? Not likely, this was before the biting and territorial behaviour.

So why was she stressed? *Fast forward to today* and she still gets these stress marks, even in her own terrarium, by herself. She's up on the same stick, darker in colour, grey under-belly and black lines. I don't need a photo, because the internet has them for me. Even when I put her on my black leather chair in my room, by my window to let her bask and get warm. Even the male gets these stress symptoms when hes sitting on the chair. What's going on?

Unless... They aren't stressed... at all... I figured this out a while ago when I assumed there was more at play here. They are fine and dandy, contently basking in the sun and they go to stress mode? I take them off the chair and sit with them on my bed and the marks go away. This is obvious by now, they change their colour and go darker in shade to absorb more light. It made perfect sense! But what is stress marks, if it's just beardies going black to absorb light?

I suspect that bearded dragon stress marks are a myth and misconception. My bearded dragons aren't freaking out every time I put them on my warm chair to bask. You can find photos of my beardies in their "stress mark" state on the black chair on this facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=104348443503230&set=a.104348456836562.1073741826.100017842239484&type=3&theater
[NOTE: She is only slightly showing the marks, her body gets much, much darker when she basks]

This is the best photo I have of her with the stress marks, but clearly she is fine, chillin' in the sun.

So are stress marks real? Or is it the bearded dragon's natural genetic skin-changing abilities to help them absorb more light when basking?

Your thoughts.

 

[CooperDragon]

I think the term is misleading. Young dragons often darken and have a circular pattern on their bellies when they do so. It can be mood related but is more often related to them darkening to bask and absorb more light/heat. These marks fade as they get older but they will still darken and lighten up depending on how much light they're trying to absorb. A better indicator of mood is their general behavior (skittish vs curious, lethargic vs alert, etc) and the color of their beards. Their beards are usually brightly colored when they are happy/content and they go jet black if they are angry or if something is wrong.

 

[Mysty]

If constantly dark all over the body including dark stress marks then there's likely stress or feeling unwell.

But if stress marks get dark while basking or while outside the viv only, its normal.

One of my beardies shows faint stress marks nearly all the time, they occasionally go dark whereas my other beardie rarely shows stress marks and they appear much paler. So there is variance between dragons.

 

[MungoAster]

If constantly dark all over the body including dark stress marks then there's likely stress or feeling unwell.

But if stress marks get dark while basking or while outside the viv only, its normal.

One of my beardies shows faint stress marks nearly all the time, they occasionally go dark whereas my other beardie rarely shows stress marks and they appear much paler. So there is variance between dragons.

It makes sense, but I've never seen either of my bearded dragons show these marks other than when basking or sitting on a dark object.