# Dune: what do the worms eat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472 "2003-03-19T05:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/1 "2003-03-19T05:19:45Z")
They sure do have big teeth! But my friends and I can’t recall any mention of other large creatures, so, what do they eat? ---
**Author:** ![Pantology](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Pantology](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantology)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/2 "2003-03-19T05:26:24Z")
Juvenile worms, sandtrout, and anything else that gets in their way. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/3 "2003-03-19T05:28:53Z")
I’d assume they’d take the minerals out from the sand and excrete the rest? ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/4 "2003-03-19T05:29:09Z")
Slow Fremen. ---
**Author:** ![Pantology](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Pantology](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantology)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/5 "2003-03-19T05:31:11Z")
Actually, forget the sandtrout. Swallowing a sandtrout colony would seriously ruin a worm’s day. ---
**Author:** ![compton\_homie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@compton\_homie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/compton_homie)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/6 "2003-03-19T05:38:10Z")
if you ever played duneII you would know they eat vehicles as a primary food source:cool: ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/7 "2003-03-19T06:27:19Z")
I believe they eat the “Little Makers” which are presumably the tiny organisms that produce spice. That’s why where there’s spice you’ll find worms, sand worms are basically filter feeding desert whales. Just from what I can remember from the books and my own conjecture. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/8 "2003-03-19T06:28:49Z")
Sandworms who are trying to watch their figure eat new Diet Fremen, made with Nutrasweet. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/9 "2003-03-19T07:37:51Z")
They say they taste just like regular Fremen, but you can always tell the difference. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/10 "2003-03-19T07:56:01Z")
I thought the sandtrout became sandworms? Then it probably wouldn’t be good for them to be eating them. Really, there really is nothing I can see they eat that would supply their caloric needs. ---
**Author:** ![sirRM2501](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@sirRM2501](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirRM2501)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/11 "2003-03-19T08:21:13Z")
Maybe there is more under the sand than just worms? ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/12 "2003-03-19T18:05:18Z")
The proper reply to the question “What do sandworms eat?” is “Anything they want to!” ---
**Author:** ![ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c77e96/32.png) [@ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ed)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/13 "2003-03-19T18:16:38Z")
I don’t have my copy of the book with me, but I know that the lifecycle of the sandworm is discussed in the appendix about Kynes. It goes something like this (someone please correct me, going from memory here…): - Little maker lives on “sand plankton”, a form of microscopic life that lives off photosynthesis - Little maker corrals water, eventually forming a pre-spice mass - Spice mass erupts, spewing spice and dead little makers all over the place. The few remaining makers grow into full sandworms. As to what they eat, it also says something about makers needing to survive the blast and older worms, indicating that worms do eat the little makers. They may also live on the sand plankton, similar to baleen whales. My WAG is that it’s definitely supposed to be a very stunted and bizarre lifecycle, which is supposed to account somewhat for the totally unique ecological situation on Arrakis. In other words, the evolution of the maker seems to be out of control, and responsible for the condition of Arrakis being a total desert. Just a WAG, though. ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dune-what-do-the-worms-eat/162472/14 "2003-03-19T18:19:31Z")
Pudding. _Sand_ pudding.