Silverfish are silver, but not fish! They are primitive wingless insects often found in the home. Like their relatives (Firebrats) they are harmless.
Silverfish (Lepisma saccharina) and all their relatives (in the insect order: Thysanura) have been around for 300 million years, they really did know the dinosaurs! They are genuine ‘living fossils’ rather like the Coelacanth (which will be the subject of a later article). Some silverfish live outdoors, but we are more familiar with the ones we find in the bath! They are harmless, but because they love to eat anything that contains starch they are often considered pests. They come out at night and are usually seen scampering around on the floor when the bathroom (or kitchen) light is switched on during a nocturnal visit!
Silverfish are graceful and slender silver darlings (in my opinion), about 10mm long with three long ‘tails’. I do genuinely think they are very beautiful, but I know that many find them a little bit disturbing. Maybe this is because people find it unthinkable that a wriggly little bug should decide to live with them.
Silverfish are not only ancient – they are very tough (they can even grow new legs if they need to!). They can go for long periods of time without food, and are quite tolerant of dry conditions (for a soft-bodied creature). They can live a long time (up to eight years!), but they take a long time growing up. And, as if to compensate for this, they reproduce very slowly (for an insect). The female will only lay around 100 eggs during her lifetime. All this makes them the ideal pet for someone like me – they take up little space, are easy to feed, will live a long time, and don’t take much looking after. You can go away on holiday and just forget about them!
The closely related ‘Firebrat’ (Thermobia domestica) prefers warm places. You don’t find him in the bathroom, but around hot pipes and fireplaces (that’s where his common name comes from!). He is also a harmless vegetarian, but nothing like as ‘pretty’ for my money, and not such a nice ‘pet’!
Breaking News:
Well - recently broken anyway - an eyeless relative of silverfish was discovered in January 2006 in caves in California.
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