HI Selected Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II: The Colors of
  Gas-Rich Galaxies
  We utilize color information for an HI-selected sample of 195 galaxies to
explore the star formation histories and physical conditions that produce the
observed colors. We show that the HI selection creates a significant offset
towards bluer colors that can be explained by enhanced recent bursts of star
formation. There is also no obvious color bimodality, because the HI selection
restricts the sample to bluer, actively star forming systems, diminishing the
importance of the red sequence. Rising star formation rates are still required
to explain the colors of galaxies bluer than g-r < 0.3. We also demonstrate
that the colors of the bluest galaxies in our sample are dominated by emission
lines and that stellar population synthesis models alone (without emission
lines) are not adequate for reproducing many of the galaxy colors. These
emission lines produce large changes in the r-i colors but leave the g-r color
largely unchanged. In addition, we find an increase in the dispersion of galaxy
colors at low masses that may be the result of a change in the star formation
process in low-mass galaxies.
