Origins, Biology & Life Cycle of Dune Sandworms

A sandworm is a fictional extraterrestrial creature that appears in the Dune novels written by Frank Herbert, first introduced in Dune (1965). Sandworms are colossal, worm-like creatures that live on the desert planet Arrakis. The sandworms' larvae produce a drug called "melange" (known colloquially as "the spice"), the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe because it makes safe and accurate interstellar travel possible. Melange deposits are found in the sand seas of Arrakis, where the sandworms live and hunt, and harvesting the spice from the sand is a dangerous activity because sandworms are aggressive and territorial. Harvesting vehicles must be airlifted in and out of the sand sea in order to evade sandworm attacks. The struggle over the production and supply of melange is a central theme of the Dune saga. In this video, we briefly describe its life cycle as per reliable sources.

[@Concreteowl]

You miss a very important aspect of the worm. It is responsible for the breathable air on a world with virtually no precipitation beyond mild dew.

[@davidmistoffelees8459]

Sandworms feed on sand zooplankton; this is explained in the books; they're filter feeders.

[@fredkelly6953]

That doesn't make sense. If there was zooplankton where are the adult forms? We do know that there are precious few lifeforms on the planet and if there was a thriving ecosystem beneath the sand we should know of that too. We can theorize what worms eat but Frank did not make their life cycle that clear. I came here thinking, this is handy I've never seen the worms life cycle laid out before but that wasn't the case. The grey area of the sand plankton (breezed over in this video) is key to understanding Shai-Hulud and I've yet to see anyone shed light on that stage of their development.

[@davidmistoffelees8459]

@@fredkelly6953 the adult form of zooplankton? Do me a favor; Google that word and then read it. It's explained in the books.

[@davidmistoffelees8459]

@@fredkelly6953 oh by the way. The worm life cycle was clear. It was just spread over several books because the average person didn't know anything. It was a process of discovery. So as the characters discovered more and more about the worms, you learn more about them. This is all evident in, at the very least, Chapterhouse. Hell even the continuation written in part by Herbert's son (in part) has explanations due to the fact that they were genetically manipulating worms.

[@hansofaxalia]

people fighting over the lifecycle of fictional giant worms is pretty funny ngl

[@davidmistoffelees8459]

@@hansofaxalia yea I guess. What I'm fighting is the fact that people who haven't read the books are claiming shit that isn't true. So again, non-reading mthrfckrs are trying to insert themselves into a reading mthrfckrs discussion :)

[@patrickchuan4550]

1. Y'all could consider Sandtrout/Sandworm from the point of planet terraforming roles. These creatures have to be able to terraform a water-filled planet (like Earth into a desert planet). Here's how it goes: 2. Sandtrout = is not the same creature as Sandworm. = produce green pre-spice. = loves water, able to swim in water. = can burrow deep into Earth to find water = band together to create a leather-bag-colony. = converts water with their green pre-spice into orange pre-spice = once their leather-bag-colony matures, a spice-blow would occur = mature sandtrouts gets blown into the surface, probably die, and mixed with the orange pre-spice to become spice. = unknown whether new baby sandtrouts are born underground, on the body of a Sandworm, or whatever else. Frank was not a biologist, he's not specific about this. 3. Medium Sandworm (3-15 meters) = produces blue water-of-life when drowned, so it's allergic to water. = when sandtrouts has exhausted all the water in their ecosystem, they may choose to evolve into sandworm. Sandworm breaks rock formations so that sandtrouts can travel to new areas to consume water. = when sandworm encounters a new source of water, they die, turning the water into blue which attracts sandtrouts. 4. Giant Sandworm (Shai Hulud) = a combination of sandworm and sandtrouts = their main purposes are to break the bigger rocks, guard the desert, and act as vectors for the migration of sandtrouts over large distances. = due to their role as dessert guardians, the energy consumption of these creatures shouldn't suffice with the consumption of sand plankton and krills, or photosynthesis. The math doesn't work out. It is better to imagine that the Sandworms have Evangelion S2 Engine organ which can generate limitless power for whatever the plot that the story requires.

[@Rammstein0963.]

One small note, the Alaskan Bull Worm....is actually the smallest on this list (once you remember the characters from SpongeBob aren't human sized) Also, "Big, scary, and pink" 🤣

[@isopodslug6365]

yeah the Alaskan bull worm would've been at most 30 feet long and at most 2 feet thick

[@observer_srt]

Yet it's the most terrifying 😨.

[@frank643]

The vido was silly...👎

[@mattsen4297]

sandworms from Dune > sandworms from tremors

[@RonaldMcreepy]

um no

[@tornado5d267]

Both are good worms no need to compare them

[@phoenixbabbitt2597]

“Worm like orgasms”- man who made this video

[@gingeranagram2467]

I really wish he would just stop and take his time. This type of stuff happens every video - along with stuttering over words, stopping and repeating. Editing is a thing, my guy

[@beberivera7011]

So Spice is pretty much sand trout poop?!

[@gingeranagram2467]

Are we just gonna ignore that this fool literally put the Alaskan Bull Worm at the end of the size-comparison chart?! 🤣

[@pacotaco1246]

Its big, scary, and pink!

[@stephenshanebeaty]

The whole idea that sand trout could somehow link ass to mouth forming a ring and that's somehow going to trap oceans worth of water under sand.

[@Mooza1]

So,, water is fatal, but they eat people? Water is fatal but they eat machines that will contain water in various ways?

[@jackbrowne8527]

Maybe their stomach digests the water quick enough or the stomach lining is water proof?

[@madladam]

Well, water in certain amounts. I'm sure that a shai hulud eating a few humans wouldn't kill it, but for sure get its stomach upset. As for machines, I doubt they have much water in them to collect spice, but I could be wrong as we don't actually know how spice is collected. But if they do have lots of water, then we can assume that the shai hulud we see eating that spice extractor is probably very dead. My question is, does the shai hulud produce water of life?

[@mukeshchhawindra7364]

Thanks for uploading video 👍

[@eleven2435]

A lot of good pictures that never seen before, but a little holes/miss steps in the lore, good video!

[@sazaria80]

if water is fatal to sandworm, than isnt eating a human that contains water would kill em? lol

[@thomasfevre9515]

It's especially stated that any source of water less diluted that what you find in living animals is enough to kill them.

[@isopodslug6365]

it's probally the amount ,same goes for us eat too much zinc you die but you need a tiny amount to live I'd imagine the sandworms are the same way, a human now and then probally don't effect it also that's assuming they actually eat the human ,could be like when a whale sticks something it doesn't want to eat in it's mouth ,they spit it up same could go for the sand worm

[@franksanchez8111]

The sandworms eat "sand plankton" they are filters like whales, they cant eat a human. But wouldn't be pretty enter their mouth tho

[@battlesheep2552]

Maybe they dont actually eat people, i mean if their food source is sand plankton that doesnt make rhythmic vibrations, so they hear the vibrations and think "gotta go kill it, but not eat it because it's not food"

[@madladam]

​​@@battlesheep2552yeah the math ain't mathing here... It's probably to protect the sand trout, but idk man 🤷

[@rudradebsarkar1178]

Nice video 👍

[@godzillagaming3767]

Good video 👍

[@SpaceRaptorsInfiniteAR5001]

Awesome video!!! Also did you mean to say organism?

[@fredkelly6953]

No

[@battlesheep2552]

Note that "Terraform" means to make Earth-like, it's more apt to say the sand trouts Arrakisformed the planet.

[@frank643]

If water kills them....then what happens when " Paul" transforms the planit?

[@Concreteowl]

Spoilers...... They go almost extinct beyond a few kept on engineered patches of desert.

[@mortuusponduus7879]

It always bothered me that no one seems to agree on what the Sand worms mouth looks like, one of the pictures he showed had a tongue, A TONGUE!? I kinda just head cannon that as the sand trout evolve they start with the mouth flaps but fill in and grow out of them as they get bigger

[@MrEnjoivolcom1]

Lol, yeah I saw that too and thought 🤔 “A frickin tongue?!”

[@eeehmeow6899]

Another next level boss in dungeon

[@sekuroz]

So humans being mainly water would actually damage the sand worms

[@maryjaneperry9951]

6:46 Sponge Bob worm is bigger than the dune worm

[@MySerpentine]

The food chain here makes no sense if the sand plankton are newborn sandworms. Thermodynamics doesn't allow a cannibalism-only diet.

[@mindq4328]

Neither does it allow for Gigantic 450 meter worms who are autotrophic and makes a narcotic that allows for humans to navigate FTL travel 😂

[@josviersel]

It can make sense, but the amount of sand plankton would need to be enormous to feed the sandworms. But how do the sand plankton feed? On earth plankton get their energy from the sun and food from in the water. Sun does not go very well through sand, and I can't imagine the useable energy of hot sand is very much. Nor can I imagine a working muscle based on sand without water being involved in biological cells.

[@MySerpentine]

@@mindq4328 Yeah, but that bit is allowed because it's the basic premise. Suspension of disbelief is weird like that.

[@rannithewitch3180]

I think the only thing sandworms need from the plankton are small of ammounts of transformed water...anything else energy wise got be from the sun or from transforming sand earth in pure energy

[@craigsurette3438]

The glaring Sandworm shaped elephant in the room, is why does an autotrophic species like the Sandworm evolve teeth and the ability to hunt via very well honed vibration sensitivity? Teeth and hunting senses imply its an ambush predator, but of what?

[@JohnDoe-zl6qw]

The video got it wrong; they're not autotrophs. They're filter feeders, feasting on Sand Plankton as they "swim" through the sand. There's some indication in the book they may also derive _some_ sustenance from the sand itself; but their metabolism is poorly understood. Translation: Frank Herbert is an author, not a biologist nor organic chemist; thus details about the worms are shrouded in "mystery" and dismissed with the too-facile explanation that, owing to their aggressive nature and the harsh environment in which they live, they're a difficult species to study. Another cop-out is it is said an autopsy is near-impossible as their corpses decompose so rapidly upon death; a major portion of which reverts to constituent Sand Trout which quickly burrow deep beneath the dunes. Some speculation exists they may be a silicon-based lifeform rather than carbon-based. The Sand Worms are aggressively territorial, guarding their domain against any trespasser; even other Sand Worms. Thus the teeth and well-honed vibration sensitivity.

[@frank643]

Sorry im not going to let your version of sand worms ruin my imagination .

[@fredkelly6953]

It makes more sense that the worms are from Arrakis. If they came from elsewhere would that not be another dessert planet? And what is the point of going to Arrakis to mutate when they would be more ecologically in tune with the planet if that was their actual home. What they had done on Arrakis they could do to almost any other planet given certain conditions but having them a part of the natural evolution of life on Dune is much more satisfying.

[@battlesheep2552]

I remember they said they tried to transplant sandworms and sand trout to another world so the galaxy wouldnt be dependant on Arrakis for spice, but that failed as they couldnt survive on other worlds. It really makes no sense for them to not be native to Arrakis

[@kettleblack908]

They do end up moving the worms to another planet and it becomes a desert like Arrakis. Leto2 never gives an origin but he does say that the worms are not native to Arrakis, been wondering more about this. There are no aliens in the Dune universe, maybe something like that happened before way in the past, or they were genetically engineered, or a hyper-evolved earth creature, I think we're meant to wonder

[@williamoverton7775]

no way they might not need to eat but they like it. that's why thumpers work.

[@2submit]

Whos the gorrila in the intro. Is tgat kong . I dont remember the scene

[@TheBubbaclaw]

It's "Shy-Ooo-Lude".

[@jacobthompson1682]

So quickly wrong. Damn.

[@hansthebeast9740]

So the way to kill a sandworm is a squirt gun?

[@Donaldduckandfriendsofficial]

No. Make it earth

[@Midme1238]

They don't have eyes

[@tristanxandergonzales3428]

why is that so biggggggggggg😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@brendengoldman2067]

hi

[@DexHydra]

But sand worms are not real

[@dragosradudumitrescu]

Did you just say "gigantic worm-like ORGASMS"??? Well...it sounded like that, bud!

[@not-fedrayepps5203]

ORGAN-ISM LOL

[@seagulfs4123]

?

[@eyeln9ne696]

Ummmmm, did he say orgasims at 0.36?

[@AM-sj5vr]

Probably ment organisms

[@SIAUYUEZENMoe]

he said orgasm instead of organism

[@jacejan3128]

It's oxygen also produced by the worms? I think I remember that from the books, but admittedly it has been a long time since I read Dune.

[@cory95ify]

Or,ga,nism......... not orgasm different thing my guy XD

[@geography_guy335]

Sometimes that shame is feeling comes from the wife. She makes him feel like a deviant for asking for sex so often.

[@Khaleel85]

Take a speech class bro

[@MySerpentine]

Rude.

[@jansnauwaert1785]

Sandworms are fiction, just like Dune is. Just FYI.

[@veramae4098]

Terrible audio, words pronounced wrong, suspect Ai.

[@habituallinestepper8839]

No sand trout? Have you read the books?

[@mindq4328]

Have you watched the video? Smh