what are silverfish?

Answer 1

Lepisma saccharina (commonly called the fishmoth, urban silverfish or just the silverfish) is a small, wingless insect. Its common name derives from the animal's silvery grey colour, while the scientific name indicates the silverfish's diet of carbohydrates such as sugar or starches. It belongs to the basal insect order Thysanura, and the species is estimated to have existed for 300 million years.

An eyeless species of silverfish, or a close relative, was discovered in January 2006 in caves in Sequoia National Park, California.

The body of a silverfish is approximately 10 mm long, excluding the antennae and caudal furcae. The metallic sheen is due to silvery scales, which only appear after the third moult.

Answer 2

Silverfish are a soft bodied insect that are considered pest because they like to eat paper and can damage books.

Answer 3

They are small insects approx 1cm long, dusty greyish, thin , flat and live in your cupboards and dark damp places usually in kitchens, tend to turn up in the places that cockroaches do, softer bodied than a cockroach, I was in hospital once and at night a larger version would come into the ward along with the cockroaches the ones that used to turn up in my mum's cupboards were smaller. by the way I come from the UK and have never heard of any fish to be part of the silver fish family so I learned some thing

Answer 4

silverfish means,

1.Any of various fishes having silvery scales, such as a tarpon or silverside.
2.A small silvery or gray bristletail (Lepisma saccharina) that feeds on the starchy material in bookbindings, wallpaper, clothing, and food, often causing extensive damage.


1: silver-gray wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing [syn: Lepisma saccharina] 2: a silvery variety of Carassius auratus

Answer 5

Silverfish are small, soft insects without wings.

Answer 6

They are usually a small silver looking slug about the size of a rice. You usually find them in damp and wet areas like the bathroom. I would say they are very unhygenic as i am not sure of what harm they can do, just more unpleasent.

I hope this helps:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/learninganddiscovery/flash/pest/infosheets/silverfish.html

Answer 7

silver-gray wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing

Answer 8

Little crawley things that hang about the toilet ... or is that George Michael .

Anyhoo, they look like half inch armadilo's .

Answer 9

and to add to Andrew W.'s answer. . .they live in moist areas like baseboards of your bathroom. . .or around the kitchen sink. They eat wallpaper and other fiberous items in your house.

Answer 10

in the uk they mean fish that are silver(roach,rudd,skimmers,dace) or a small insect that glides along the surface of work tops,floors etc.