Silverfish

Lepisma saccharinum

Silverfish

“ For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver. ”

– Martin Luther

Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Zygentoma

Family: Lepismatidae

Genus: Lepisma

Species: Lepisma saccharinum

Descendant: lepismatids

Named by: Carl Linnaeus

Year Published: 1758

Size: 13-25 mm

Lifespan: 2–8+ years

Type: Insects (Lepismatid)

Title: 

Pantheon: Terran

Time Period: Late Miocene–Holocene

Alignment: Docile

Threat Level: ★★

Diet: Omnivorous

Elements: Rock, bug, fae

Inflicts: Allergic (5% chance)

Weaknesses: Fire, rock, ice, metal, poison

Casualties: n/a

Based On: itself

Conservation Status: Not Evaluated

Silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum) is a cosmopolitan species that likes damp habitats, tends to hide in crevices and is usually found in human habitations, becoming household pests under certain conditions.

Etymology

However, the insect's more common name comes from its distinctive metallic appearance and fish-like shape.

Physical Appearance

Its abdomen tapers at the end, giving it a fish-like appearance. The newly hatched are whitish, but develop a greyish hue and metallic shine as they get older.  It has two long cerci and one terminal filament at the tip of the abdomen between the cerci. It also has two small compound eyes, although other members of Zygentoma are completely eyeless, such as the family Nicoletiidae.

Abilities

When idle, silverfish enter a nearby deepslate, stone, cobblestone, stone bricks, mossy stone bricks, cracked stone bricks, chiseled stone bricks block or all kinds of rocks from igneous to metamorphic rocks, transforming it into the respective infested block. They cannot infest slab and stairs of these blocks. They are also unable to infest woods.


A silverfish being freed from an infested stones of all kinds, which calls for help from other silverfish; causing them to emerge from more infested blocks.

Weaknesses

The essential oil of the Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica has been investigated as a repellent and insecticide against L. saccharinum, with promising results: filter paper impregnated with a concentration of 0.01 mg/cm3 of essential oil repelled 80% of silverfish, and an exposure to vapours of 0.16 mg/cm3 for 10 hours caused a 100% mortality rate.

Ecology

Before silverfish reproduce, they carry out a ritual involving three phases, which may last over half an hour. In the first phase, the male and female stand face to face, their vibrating antennae touching, then repeatedly back off and return to this position. In the second phase, the male runs away and the female chases him.


In the third phase, the male and female stand side by side and head to tail, with the male vibrating his tail against the female. Finally, the male lays a spermatophore, a sperm capsule covered in gossamer, which the female takes into her body via her ovipositor to fertilize her eggs. The female lays groups of fewer than 60 eggs at once, deposited in small crevices. The eggs are oval-shaped, whitish, about 0.8 mm (0.031 in) long, and take between two weeks and two months to hatch. A silverfish usually lays fewer than 100 eggs in her lifetime.


They are infamous for damaging paper-based products due to their scientific name, their diet like sugar and starches. Silverfish are able to digest cellulose by themselves, thanks to the cellulase that is produced by its midgut. They consume matter that contains polysaccharides, such as starches and dextrin in adhesives. These include book bindings, carpet, clothing, coffee, dandruff, glue, hair, some paints, paper, photos, plaster, and sugar. They will damage wallpaper in order to consume the paste.  Silverfish can also cause damage to tapestries. Other substances they may eat include cotton, dead insects, linen, silk, leftover crumbs, or even their own exuviae (moulted exoskeleton). During famine, a silverfish may even consume leather and synthetic fabrics. Silverfish can live for a year or more without eating if water is available.


Silverfish are considered household pests, due to their consumption and destruction of property. However, although they are responsible for the contamination of food and other types of damage, they do not transmit disease. Earwigs, house centipedes, and spiders such as the spitting spider Scytodes thoracica are known to be predators of silverfish.

Behavior

Silverfish are harmless enough to humans but they can destroy books, old papers, wallpaper, carpets and clothes with their droppings. They also love to make unsealed pasta, oat and cereal packets their home, so you'll want to get rid of them quickly. There are relatively harmless, wingless arthropods that are often found in dark areas in buildings and the wooden pilings of seaside piers and trees.

Distribution and Habitat

Silverfishes are a cosmopolitan species, found in Africa, the Americas, Australia, Eurasia, and parts of the Pacific. They inhabit moist areas, requiring a relative humidity between 75% and 95%. In urban areas, they can be found in attics, basements, bathtubs, sinks, kitchens, old books, classrooms, and showers.


Tamed

Coming soon

Lore

Pre-Bereshit

The predecessors of silverfish, along with those of jumping bristletails, are considered the earliest and most primitive insects. They evolved at the latest in mid-Devonian and possibly as early as late Silurian more than 400 million years ago. Some fossilized arthropod trackways from the Paleozoic Era, known as Stiaria intermedia and often attributed to jumping bristletails, may have been produced by silverfish.

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