Sandworms

[Khan]

This is something that has always bugged me aboput the Dune world. How is it that Sandworms actually survive? They can't have a great diet, if they mainly eat stuff like harvesters, buggies and the odd human. Considereing their great size and the speed at which they travel, they would have to need alot of energy and nutrition, I mean they would need alot of food just to grow to such an emense size, so how do you guys think they survive? Is there anything that they would eat that would suggest how they could grow to such a size and maintain themselves that I have failed to consider?

[Egeides]

I remember that near their mouth it is very hot because of some chemical reactions. Also from what I remember, they get their energy from this. Maybe the Dune Encyclopedia would give a hint, it's not always false :P

[Mahdi]

They are like regular worms. They recycle sand, and find nourishment in the plankton within it.

[Khan]

I see, thanks Mahdi. However there would need to be trillions of planktons to be of any effect, the size thing again. Egeides they would still surely need something to create the chemical reactions in their mouth.

[Egeides]

Of course. But I don't remember from where they get the chemical components :(

[Skilzat99X]

maybe some of the soice they crawl through or swallow plays a part...

[nemafakei]

Wormsign, like lightning, I reckon is Nitrogen-fixing. (I know it's not quite energy, but close...)

[Mahdi]

Wormsign, in teh novels, is just displaced sand which you can see when the worm is close enough to the surface. Only in the movie/games is it"lightning".

[nemafakei]

My apologies.

[TMA_1]

actually nema could be right. Though the plankton theory is stated in the books, what nema stated is pretty interesting. The size of a worm and the friction of the sand would have to create large amounts of static electricity. This exerts gases that the worm can use for sustinance. That is why they cant stop, kinda like a shark but not about the breathing. It also explains why the worms have a flame within their insides. The gases are no doubt flammable and the fire converts the gases into their base components for "nurishment". They are in a way, true autotrophs if that is the case.

[Mahdi]

The flames from inside are because the Sandworms produce massive amounts of oxygen, and are in fact the only thing on Arrakis which produces oxygen, so they have to produce an unblievable amount. No doubt they create a lot of static electricity, but when the books tates something, that's what I've got to go with as true: Wormsign is jsut displaced sand caused by a worm moving close to the surface of the planet, and there substanance is sand plankton. They probably have there mouths open all the time they are under the sand, allowing the to eat the plankton and recycle the sand.

Look at blue whales. Huge creatures. Eat only tiny fish.

[Acriku]

The problem I have with the plankton theory is that it would have to be huge amounts of plankton all over the desert, and they would have to recycle huge amounts of sand going their speed, and their length.

[Khan]

A problem with the plankton theory is, how do they survive?

[Mahdi]

How does any plankton survive?

It explains it in one of the appendixes.

[Vanguard3000]

I'd have to agree with Mahdi. Think about how much sand plankton could be in the sand. The worm would need more than trillions per second to survive, but it would eat that much as it moved through the sand.

But when I saw the movie, I came up with the same theory about the lightning. The Arrakeen atmosphere is extremely dry, and Silicon becomes electrostatically charged quite easily. These two things make "lightning" very possible. That is why the sandstorm was used to "short out" the shields of the frigates, etc, at the end of Dune. But again, as Mahdi said, the book only describes the wormsign as being the displaced sand from a worm that is moving near the surface.

[Acriku]

How does the sandtrout survive? Can it get enough plankton with its slow speed?

[Alexander_Ordos]

If I remeber correctly, sandrouts feed on any moisture they can find in the soil. And as Dune "had" plenty water undergound, the sandrouts could easily survive. By the way, sandrouds don't need dessert, they can trevel through common ground and that means, they feed like our terran worms. The fiction commes when they turn into Sandworms :-

[Emperor Harkonnen]

maybe the sandworm eats spice, or maybe it get's almost all it's energy from the sun.

[TMA_1]

no, spice is just the "waste" product of the communing of sandtrout. They excrete the stuff. and yeah and that is what keeps arrakis a desert. They love water, which is kinda weird because worms can die from it.

[Emperor Harkonnen]

How can life be without water? I thought all life needed water in order to survive

[Acriku]

Life can live without oxygen, why not water? Organisms all over are adapted to fewer and fewer amounts of water needed to survive, so perhaps the change into making them obligate water-wise, also changed the processes where water is not needed.

[Emperor Harkonnen]

maybe, but there is still no known living organism who can survive without water

[nemafakei]

Our experience is a bit limited, however, given the composition of our planet.

[TMA_1]

also given the fact that we dont control thousands of worlds and can travel at faster than light speeds. hehe ;)

[Emperor Harkonnen]

maybe there is life on mars then?? is there water there?