Re: Anaxial's Annex

From: jorganos <joe_at_...>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:29:48 -0000

I'd like to add a comment, too - I think you greatly understate the diving beetle larvae.

I'm convinced that these beasties were the role model for the Alien beasties in the movies. Diving beetle larvae are carnivorous like the adult stage, but are likely to do a lot more damage to local biota (or individuals) because of their aggressiveness.

I once had one (accidentally) in a swarm of some hundred tadpoles. I discovered it because of pieces of tadpoles floating up, and later kept it separately, feeding it with sickly tadpoles, before releasing it (after biology courses). Scaling up even only by a factor of 10 (to about 1' long critters) would make them scary, ripping pieces out of soft-skinned creatures (like trolls). Making them troll-sized gets you the Alien (underwater). Don't expect any lake sharks nearby...

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