Firebrats and Silverfish Are Rocking Some Old-School Looks | Deep Look
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- Опубликовано: 22 фев 2021
- What is that bizarre fishlike thing squirming in your sink at night? Firebrats and silverfish are pretty darn similar to some of the earliest insects on Earth. With three long filaments poking out their back, no wings and mini-me babies, they have something to teach us about survival.
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Look closely at the firebrat munching on cereal in your kitchen or getting cozy in a pile of newspapers. You’ll see traits some of the earliest insects had around 400 million years ago.
Take its three tail-looking filaments. The two outer ones are called cerci. They work like antennae, detecting chemicals and predators like house centipedes.
Other insects, like cockroaches, have a short pair of cerci. But very few insects have the middle filament that firebrats and silverfish possess. Called the median caudal filament, it has tiny hairs that can detect the faintest air currents.
--- What do firebrats eat?
Cereal, spices and books - both the pages and the glue in the binding. Only a handful of the 500 to 600 species of firebrats and silverfish live with us. In nature, they feed on leaves, stems, needles and bark.
“And they will also eat, well, each other,” said entomologist Art Appel from Auburn University.
--- Are firebrats dangerous?
No, they don’t bite or sting.
--- What is the difference between silverfish and firebrats?
Silverfish generally prefer cooler parts of the house, while firebrats are drawn to warmer corners, like a water heater - hence their name.
--- Does evolution have a goal?
When you look at a firebrat, with its ancient traits, you might wonder why it hasn’t changed to be more like other insects. For example, when insects developed wings around 325 million years ago this led to an explosion in insect diversity. So why did firebrats remain wingless, like the earliest insects?
“When we see a creature that looks pretty similar to things that were probably living 400 million years ago, we think, ‘Why isn’t that creature doing a better job of being modern?’” said Sandra Schachat, a doctoral student who researches insect evolution at Stanford University. “But the way that evolution works is that it doesn't really have an optimum that things are being driven towards. You don’t need to be the most abundant species in your habitat in order to survive. You only need to be abundant enough that you can maintain some kind of population over time.”
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#deeplook #silverfish #firebrat 
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So that's why silverfish lives in strongholds, they have libraries!
Not wrong!
but they still go after stones rather than books for some reasons.
Silverfish mostly feed on mould and other stuff that accumulates in moist environments, so they definitely fit their minecraft setting
Also they are big for some reason and attack human
In that case though, shouldn't they spawn by the library instead of the end portal?
Dog: **doesn't eat your homework**
Firebrat: "Fine, I'll do it myself"
Your profile pic fitted this comment perfectly
My cousin ate my other cousin’s homework after drawing Batman symbols everywhere. Her teacher thought she was crazy when she came in and said that he brother ate her homework
Thanos
Makes sense
Teacher: homework?
School kid: "My pet firebrats ate it".
Teacher: "All of it, Again"?
School kid: "Big family"
Teacher:"Where is your assignment?"
Me:"Uhhhh......Firebrats ate it?"
I like that excuse!
Its literally digesting information
Teacher: "Oh yeah? How?"
Student: "They uh.. they digest it using uhm... enzymes that they produce to digest mh... tough cellulose. They actually... there's actually only a couple hundred species of them. And uh... their reproduction is uh... ametabol...ous. So uh..."
[half an hour later]
Teacher: "Very good presentation. And here I thought you were just trying to cheat your way out of doing your biology homework."
Student: "Haha, no way. That's... not me, haha. I wouldn't. Do that."
lol onkel
@@onkelpappkov2666 that's kinda sus bro...
As an entomologist, seeing all these videos about invertebrates brings joy to me. Not many people have bothered taking footage of such animals, let alone discussing them in an informative manner targeted at the general public. Bravo!
Hi Jonas, that is high praise coming from an entomologist! We are so glad you are here.
Love watching videos of insects. I dunno wat it is but watching them move is just awesome. They look like moving robots cuz of their exoskeletons. They r just awesome
What do you usually do as an entomologist?
👏YES!!!
👏👏
"These insects don't bite or sting"
Me playing minecraft: That's the biggest lie I've ever heard
Minecraft has some really advanced silverfish species.
@@q-miiproductions878 Also the insects are big
Peko peko peko
Thats silver fish not these. They r related
@@city-2b2t peko
I was wondering where all my cereal goes
That's your high uncle, don't blame the firebrats
Have a siblings? Go ask them.
One time I found a dead cockroach in my cereal as I was eating. Needless to say, I got spooked.
Ur mom
First you need to check the cereal befor you put the milk
Alternate title: Insects walking and eating ASMR
That could describe most of our channel
@@KQEDDeepLook Point😂
They do have a very fluid movement, like a fish. If you've ever scared a few dozen silverfish at once, it's actually kind of cool to watch them scatter. They do look like a school of dish dispersing, their scales flickering like fish scales. I find them to be quite cute, I enjoyed the close up. Their faces close up make them even cuter.
W h a t h o w
i thought i was the only one on earth to find them cute! And i agree it's cool to see a pack of them scaterring around. When i was working in a school library i loved to go in the storage building because it was full of them and looking them walk and run with their silvery scale was the best part of going in the storage building.
I agree they are so cute oml
@@ScaryWolfHead I think you also saw silver fish because they are a close relative and they silver. They cuties oml
they do look cute but they make me feel itchy
Never have I been so glad that I keep my cereal in a container with a sealed lid.
Who doesn't keep their cereal like that?
@@baulderos1950 I know plenty of people who just push the bag back into the box. On the plus side, their breakfast probably gets a free protein boost.
@@PatienceDepleted “mmm, my cereal is extra crunchy today!”
That is why I don't eat honey smacks. They look like roaches.
@@PatienceDepleted I mean you can always just seal up the bag and squeeze most of the air out when you’re done, i usually tape it like that to make sure it’s sealed but most people I know just twist the bag but that always seems to make the bag open gradually which isn’t too good lol
My wife: "How was that book I saw you nose deep in the other day?"
From behind the bookcase, in a tiny, muffled voice: "Delicious."
Me: "She was talking to me, you freeloader!"
I want this sit com now.
So tiny yet so fascinating!
That's what she said
Hello verified person
Indeed😃
Crunchy too!
@@angelowerner6512 how dare you
*Hey, at least the real one are so small that they can't attack*
It's indeed harmless ._.
But still, it's insect :( I wouldn't want any insect to be on my house
;-; some small insects still can attack in large numbers
They attacked my clothes. There's holes in it now
@@gohanson8846 awwwwww :(
what if it ate a bible
"Holy Firebrat"
Whoa
Don’t mess with them , they have fused with the knowledge of the heavens
sounds like a final boss to me
Sounds like a boss
If its friendly then it would protect us lol
"Shaped like a fish"
Excuse me what planet do you live in?
Our team was divided - but they do also wiggle like a fish and have scales.
I guess I can kinda see it. As close to a fish as an insect could look; the resemblance definitely isn't striking tho
What's the deal with all the tons of "legs" some species silverfish have, but not others? Are those actually legs, and if so why are some species so different? If not, what are they?
I'm too grossed out by then to google it
They always have exactly 6 legs. If it has more it might be a house centipede or a woodlouse.
Considering the diverse shapes fish have I'm going to go with Earth.
Daddy firebrat to his son: "Eat this book and behave, son. Don't be a little brat out there!"
It's interesting to see these primitive insects are still around today. Here's to another million more!
🍻
cheers! 🍻
Cheers!!! 🥂
As a person with hundreds of books in my house, as well as having an abiding love of house centipedes, I’m rooting for the house centipede.
from what i heard silverfish will chew on certain fabrics as well
We have them in the Alps lol there bigger then the silverfish/firebrat
@thuring813 I’ve legit caught a few silverfish and fed it to a spider 😂
This channel is seriously underrated, I'd buy a ticket if there's a documentary in a movie theater and this is the show.
That Firebrat standing near the “you.-Wot” words while the narrator is explaining them is peak comedy 3:37
In my country they are called "ψαρακια" or "tiny fishes"
@Kayra I think it's farakia
1:17 I really like how when the firebrat moved you can read "love" while the narrator also says it. Really nice touch, I also really like these videos since they are great education about different species on the earth that most of us don't even know.
omg Im in love with deep look I'm 13 now but but I've been watching since I was 7 so deep look keep going and don't give up
We're going strong!
Dang you got a good taste! Just found Deep look like a year ago and I'm in love until now. Deep look is really awesome
Very noice you arw watching since age 7, that's some good taste, i also used to watch these types of channels in my childhood, less biology 😂, more physics, but yeah, i wish i found deep look
I think they are cute...
They are not so cute when you live in a building infested with them.
@@Valkyrie_71 I lived in one so i know.
Whenever I see these fellas my first instinct is to observe them instead of swat them. Am I the only one?
Same here
Same, although I never swat bugs anyway. But I find these ones extra cute for some reason!
I never kill them, they are not annoying, i haven't noticed any damage or poop from them. Same for pharaoh ants. I have a small amount of both living in my apartment, along with an occasional spider. If i see too many pharaoh ants, i know it's time to clean up =)
I'm curious about them but they're kinda scary so i accidentally smack em sometimes 😂
@@victortitov1740 if it's firebrats then you're probably fine leaving them be. But if it's silverfish then you need to have an exterminator called because they damage the building itself. Unlike ants that burrow to create a nest, silverfish burrow relentlessly and don't stop unless they decide to burrow in a different spot
Most channels avoid insects and creepy crawlers. Really appreciate the content. Arthropods are so fascinating.
*Firebrat comes out of sink*
*You walking into the bathroom and find it*
Firebrat:Oh HeY! DoNT mInd me
i love how Deep Look makes animals that i wouldnt blink twice at look so cuuuute...
They look cute
Well that's an unpopular opinion
Not that unpopular, they're pretty adorable honestly
You look cute too doge
They are very cute little babs
Those gives me chills...
I always thought Cercei was from the greek witch not a bug's butt.
Martin and your layered meaning XD
You might not want to watch the other deep look episodes, then ^^
Wait a minute, that's book is Shakespeare! :P Nice getting the silverfish to stand on the word "love" and you mention them loving books.
Yay, one of my favorite bugs! Once I got all my food and art stuff safely sealed up, seeing these lil guys around the house went from a worry to a comfort. There's a sort of fish-like wiggle to the way they move around that looks really cute to me. The house feels a bit less lonely with them around, and it's nice to have something joyful in life in place of the fear that used to be there before.
It's incredible how these tiny little things can just be so incredibly complex. So many things packed into something the size of a fingernail, less even. Nature is incredible with it's efficiency.
Except with brains though. Nature just seems to take a brute force approach by scaling things up. Think about how intelligent rats are with their small brains and how dumb humans are with their huge brains.
@@Laff700 I mean, in a way yes. But not really tho
they’re really just the cutest little things, aren’t they? too bad they’re pests... they keep going after the newsprint pads of figure drawings in my apartment :^(
They can actually be a positve to your house. They also like to eat mold, so having them around can protect your house from getting moldy. they also remove other dead insects and eat dust mites. They don't carry any diseases.
The only downside is that they might damage your books and leatherwear.
I once had this crawl on my blanket while I was sleeping. I was just laying on my bed when I noticed something white moving, I turned on my flashlight and I jumped out of the bed throwing my blanket on the floor. I look behind an old board with drawing and found about 7. Safe to say I didn’t sleep in that room for a couple of days. This was my grandma’s house and there was a lot of old clothing in the room and I heard they come from that so be careful to clean them regularly.
I've always had a quiet appreciation for silverfish, so it's nice to know that appreciation isn't unfounded! Thanks for the video!
"It's called cerci".
Me: "Cersei???"
Kurzgesagt shows us the big picture,
Journey to Micro reveals the unseen;
Last but not least is Deep Look,
Giving us everything else in between.
Imagining open your old grandma cookie book and seeing this terrifying creature in it
just close the book again... really, really hard XD
@@irfaana.b.6707 and run it over with your car
Terrifying?!?
They are only half an inch long. Hardly terrifying.
I LOVE Silverfish and have since I was a little girl. They're adorable and now that this video shows them up close, I think they're even cuter.
Come on over to my place, you can take home every single one I’ve got!
@@nessamillikan6247 I can add them to my silverfish army 😂🐜
I know they're pests and all but they're kind of cute.
sis no😭
Pest? Yes... but not much of a harm. They only feed on stack of books or papers we never read or open, also paper glue if I recall
Me too
yeah the cutest bug that exist. I don't understand why they are considered as pest, i mean they don't that much dammage for what i was able to witness.
@@lonerwolf6496 they can destroy rare antique books...
I say let the pests die.
Thank you so much for finally delving into Silverfish! I have commented so many times asking for an educational video done by you, I am so grateful you guys turned one out this year ❤ 100 times thank you!
Our pleasure!
I was casually playing Xbox when I noticed something on the bed freaked out later found out it was a sliver fish. It freaked me out smh
Perfect timing! I've been seeing these insects scurrying in my washroom but had no idea what they were or how to even look them up.
Wow, I learn more in this channel than in my actual class. 👀
That’s so cool! I never knew! 😃
The diversity of insects exploded
*shows only dipters*
sorry, I had to. great vid
the point was to show that even dipters alone have hundreds of thousands of species.
I'm not usually one to correct typos, but I believe you all mean "diptera". It means "two wing", referring to the defining feature that makes flies different from most other insect orders. Most insect orders are named after wing characteristics. "Dipters" isn't a word, at least in English or Latin.
imagine firebrats absorbing the knowledge in books when they eat them-like one chewing on an algebra textbook and becoming a mathematician
The cutest part to me is that when the narrator spoke about firebrats loving books a firebrat was on the word love
great video! I have always wondered what they where, every time I walk into the bathroom at night I always see these things I must have used weeks just looking at them from childhood till now while I should probably have been in bed.
I've been waiting for this!
Thanks Melissa!
@@KQEDDeepLook you're welcome :)
I was genuinely hoping that deep look will make a silverfish video one day and my quiet prayers have been answered!!!! I'm so irrationally happy this video exists!
They look so cute! Also makes sense about firebrats liking heat, I once saw two in my room and they looked bigger and different to the silverfish I have encountered in the bathroom
I love how this Channel talks about some of the insects, arachnids, etc. in a sweet way. They don’t automatically write all of them off as gross. I think that’s really cool of them! 😊❤️
Glad you enjoy it Melissa. :-)
I have an old books collection. I sometimes am conflicted between excitedly finding and not finding these critters, dead or alive, in them.
Thank you as always Deep Look for another hugely fascinating episode.
You are welcome, Simone. :-)
I wish these were longer. I love em so much.
Here my favorite people bring yet another wonderful Story for everyone.
The way they do the job of Storytelling is just beyond words for me to even express.
"It's shaped like a fish."
Hmmmm... Well I do not know what fish look on the planet you are from! Sure doesn't look like a fish to me. :D
I think it's look like fish
Its just the silvery shine of their scales that looks like a fish.. also they wiggle side to side when they run.. kinda like how a fish swims.
Before aquariums, people mostly viewed live fish from above. Silverfish and firebrats move and glisten with their scales very similarly as the backs of fishes when viewed from above the surface of the water.
Silverfish are some of the strangely cutest insects around. I can't point out why.
Because they have floof
I dunno. To me, it’s the way they scurry around. They look like curiously brainless idiots that would probably be bumping into walls a few times if they were bigger
You: just chillin in yo house
That one random silver fish: “im in yo walls”
Always a great day when Deep Look releases a new video.
3:20 mosquito means little fly in spanish
Oooh
They're so cute :3
Deep look has taught me so many things that i haven't even learned yet. It's a great channel if you wanna study on animals/microorganisms on a microscope without having to use one!
Hi! I love these videos! Keep going. Also, this channel is way underrated. Love you guys:)
Video: "It doesn't bite or sting"
Me: Heh Firebrats are my pets now
Just be careful to keep them moist where to feed them enough food with moisture, this video doesn't mention that they can desicate easily.
I found out the hard way by also trying to keep 1 as a pet.
Also be careful not to knock of their scales, they actually come off rather easily if they stressed and I'm pretty sure it's not good for them
But mostly i dont seem to find one in my house, but hey thanks for the tip my guy.
"and their close relatives the silverfish-"
Minecrafters: *SO YOU HAVE AWAKENED ME*
So that's what all these mysterious comments mean.
ok, this tiny critter got my respect! thanks for the knowledge
these little narratives are just a delight.
The rest of the insect species on earth: *evolves*
Firebrats and Silverfish: Evolving is so overrated... have fun getting swatted by humans and flying into lamps, nerds!
I remember your earwig episode talking about cerci 😁
Now that i see them upclose in this video, they actually look kinda cute and harmless! Always when i’ve seen these type of insects i’ve just been disgusted and thought that they appear because of bad hygiene lol
Silverfish have always fascinated me. Blazing fast, shimmering silver, T shaped tail. Makes them look cool and otherwordly.
Firebrat: *eats whole Spider-Man comic-book to itself*
*Super Firebrat* 💪
If it ate a Superman comic, would it be a Super Spider Firebrat?
I was today years old when I learned that mosquitoes are flies.
they're so cute, love em
Oh wow, I love seeing the detail on them! So much different than i expected
Right?!
i saw a silver fish in my house and i punched a hole in the wall
Me when I saw Deep Look posts a new video: time for some *s c i e n c e*
"firebrat" sounds like something I would name myself when I'm 6 after someone call me a brat and I don't know what it means
You People really work hard which can't be expressed in words Here's a like to your hardworking...Loved every bit...I am a member since 2k17
They are pretty cool looking sometimes you can find them in the sink bath tub hehe great fish food , though they remind me of crickets more
I absolutely despise these guys because they eat my books!!
Eat your books to prevent them from eating them
@@teteteteta2548 very good tip, I will do that now
Another stunning video! You guys at Deep Look are awesome!
Glad you like them!
I just found one of these in my apartment last night for the first time. Thanks for the speedy release of helpful info Deep Look
Our pleasure!
i gotta deal with these guys a lot and my first thought when they showed footage was “KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT”
huh i see one every few months in my bathroom - usually under a wet sponge or sth. i just flush em down the pipes; if i survives - good for it
Fighting the silverfish is useless if you don’t remove the moisture/mould issues that attract them in the first place. The themselves are harmless anyway and usually don’t cause damage
@@KP3droflxp It's not the moisture which attract them, they are not cockroaches, they are insects who live in clean places.
They like paper, cereals, sugar, and heat as said in the video, not moisture. And mostly darkness.
@@ardonis99 Turn on all the lights during the night and you'll definitely see them more often.
@@irov5884 I was talking about silverfish (as mentioned by Ardonis99), not firebrats.
I love how 99% of the comment rn is "first"
that’s just how every video is :P
Deep Look allows me to appreciate a lot of animals~ they're all so interesting and unique~
This is SO satisfying to watch. Can you make a 6 hour one that’s just silverfish running around?
I mean after watching that alien centipede, silverfish are pretty cute 🤗
Longer episodes please, the presentation is excellent
I remember seeing these all the time when I was little.
I love seeing these critters!
They are so cute. I love them.
I really needed information this intriguing insect
I especially loved you evolution explanation! So many misunderstand evolution because it's frequently poorly explained. Thank you, Deep Look, for doing it right!
Great view of insects!👍🏾👍🏾 Special thanks!
Thanks for the upload
Our pleasure!
Excellently explained!
Glad it was helpful!
I managed to catch a grey silverfish and have been keeping it in a little insect container with some oats and a little bit of cricket food (in not sure it will eat it but it's worth a shot). They're definitely interesting little creatures.
Agreed and same
I'd love a full documentary about silverfish and firebrats.