365 urban species. #275: Silverfish

[urbpan]

Urban species #275: Silverfish Lepisma saccharina

Forgive me please, and my blurry photographs. These things are so damn fast! I discovered this individual quite by accident. I was walking through the concourse between the Washington Street stop and the Park Street stop in the subway, when I happened to see two large American cockroaches. While I was taking pictures of them, a whitish blur zipped by. I couldn't believe my luck: I stopped for one urban species and found another. Too bad I didn't get better photographs.

This rapid-moving subway dwelling insect is a silverfish. It's belongs to an ancient group of animals; silverfish evolved before Nature thought to provide insects with wings. When humans came along hundreds of millions of years later, silverfish took advantage of our warm buildings full of starchy, plant-based objects. They come into homes, lurking in crevices and moving at night, and feeding on textiles, glues, paper, and other substances. They cause no bodily harm or disease to their primate landlords, though many people are alarmed by their appearance. Their bodies are covered with tiny scales that give them a silvery look and a slippery texture. Their rapid scuttling, like that of cockroaches and house centipedes, can be an unsettling surprise in the night.

Comments

[dragon-spirit.livejournal.com]

When I was a wee lass, my apartment had a silverfish infestation. Once, I tried to set a trap for the silverfish. I thought if I left some orange peel in a little bowl, all the silverfish would come eat it, and then we could just pick them all up in a bowl and take them out to the park and set them free. Fortunately, my parents stopped my brilliant plan before I managed to execute it.

I still think they're kinda cute.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

That was a good plan! I do that now with cockroaches- a steep bowl coated at the rim with vaseline and some white boiled potatoes and toothpaste gets them every time!

Love your flatworm icon!!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Wait, toothpaste?

[seaweedgirle.livejournal.com]

Yes! I have been thinking about silverfishes since you posted about cockroaches.

[kloostec.livejournal.com]

We get infestations of these all the time in Victoria, BC. Ick.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Hey,

Silverfish are awesome. There's just something so...primordial about them. Even when they're determined to eat the binding out of my older books, I still love 'em! When I become a fully-fledged Forensic Entomologist, I'm prolly going to see their dark side though (they're often found in *huge* numbers on corpses that have been dried out and mummified, say locked in an attic crawlspace for 10 years...)

[desu.livejournal.com]

they're often found in *huge* numbers on corpses

You know, while I am usually creeped out by silverfish (I'm not really sure why), my estimation of the creatures has now gone up a bit. Corpse eaters are okay by me.

[wirrrn.livejournal.com]

Heee! Sarcophagous invertebrates are keen, 'tis true!

[fairy.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I see these buggers a lot in the house and they creep me out. It's nice to learn more about them that way I'm lessed freaked out :)

[whatisbiscuits.livejournal.com]

We have silverfish in our bathroom but I've never noticed they have legs and antennae before. Different species or something? Ours seem to wriggle rather than scuttle along.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Some sources describe their movements as wriggling, fishlike. They all have legs, but they aren't conspicuous (like, say, house centipedes').

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

One of those guys was in my teapot the other day. Yeah, I thought it was a silverfish. Luckily I looked in, saw it, and threw it out before I put the hot water in.

[mooncroneweb.livejournal.com]

Sorry to say I have to spray for these. I tried not spraying, and when walking barefoot at night in the summer would inevitably step barefoot on one or two of them. Squished up silverfish between my toes is just too gross. And they were getting in the dog food, even tho I keep it wrapped up tight. I just could not stomach the idea that they might get into the flour, like meal worms do. *shudder*

They start out as babies smaller than a grain of sand, then get as big as an inch long. They like to live in the walls in the bathroom esp. where the steam heat pipes come up out of the floor. I guess that's where they get water.