# What insect is this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317 "2017-05-24T00:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JakeRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ab097/32.png) [@JakeRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JakeRS)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/1 "2017-05-24T00:26:45Z")
I sometimes, rarely, stumble upon these insects, but I have no idea what they’re called. [https://s20.postimg.org/oeo7h7qnx/432542.png](https://s20.postimg.org/oeo7h7qnx/432542.png) I zoomed it up a little, he’s about half the size in reality, are they dangerous and is there something that chases them away? Maybe some smell or something… Btw. I live in eastern Europe if that narrows the search. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/2 "2017-05-24T00:35:58Z")
Silverfish. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/3 "2017-05-24T01:06:53Z")
500 Internal Server Error ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/4 "2017-05-24T01:17:21Z")
Ewww silverfish! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/5 "2017-05-24T01:26:50Z")
Well, the link works now, and yeah silverfish. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/6 "2017-05-24T01:36:29Z")
Silverfish are harmless, although they might eat your books. According to Wiki, their diet includes book bindings, carpet, clothing, coffee, dandruff, glue, hair, some paints, paper, photos, plaster, and sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/7 "2017-05-24T01:48:57Z")
No, they are not dangerous. They are very common. They mainly eat sugars and starch, such as that found in in wallpaper paste, books bindings etc. Interestingly, they are among the most primitive insects and one of the few truly wingless species. I think pretty much any insecticide for crawling insects will get rid of them. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/8 "2017-05-24T02:51:16Z")
They sell silverfish traps online. They work better than insecticides in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/9 "2017-05-24T03:03:05Z")
My experience with silverfish is from my great-grandparents ancient house. We’d go visiting when I was a kid and when you pulled back the bed-sheets (which hadn’t been changed since we were there last year) there would always be silverfish. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-insect-is-this/787317/10 "2017-05-24T03:12:11Z")
Incidentally, it’s hard to tell from the photo, but I actually think this might be a firebrat rather than a silverfish. They’re pretty similar though. [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/\_mNikM6UxEh8/SjmGCqVwdTI/AAAAAAAAAGA/b4BkJTXleR4/s400/silverfish-firebrat.jpg](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mNikM6UxEh8/SjmGCqVwdTI/AAAAAAAAAGA/b4BkJTXleR4/s400/silverfish-firebrat.jpg)