<P> Livor mortis starts in 20--30 minutes, but is usually not observable by the human eye until two hours after death . The size of the patches increases in the next three to six hours, with maximum lividity occurring between eight and twelve hours after death . The blood pools into the interstitial tissues of the body . The intensity of the color depends upon the amount of reduced haemoglobin in the blood . The discoloration does not occur in the areas of the body that are in contact with the ground or another object, in which capillaries are compressed . </P> <P> Coroners can use the presence or absence of livor mortis as a means of determining an approximate time of death . It can also be used by forensic investigators to determine whether or not a body has been moved . For instance, if the body is found lying prone, but the pooling is present on the deceased's back, investigators can conclude that the body was originally positioned supine . </P> <P> Among coroners and other investigators, such as homicide and forensic detectives, livor mortis is not considered an exact way to measure time of death, but instead is a way to approximate it . Livor mortis, along with algor mortis, rigor mortis, and practices such as forensic entomology are frequently combined by investigators to more accurately pinpoint the estimated time of death . </P>

Livor mortis refers to the color of a dead body