# What is the largest organic creature in sci-fi. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593 "2009-07-01T17:32:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/1 "2009-07-01T17:32:26Z")
I was bored and thinking how many hitpoints various creatures would have, and was trying to think of the biggest ones out there. But ones that grow, not constructed ones. The Dune worms are pretty big, but I know there are much bigger but I just can’t think of them.\* No comic books though, The stupid wang-contests to make something badder than the other guys, and you end up with Sentient universe beings and crap. \*the Star Trek Giant space Amoeba is just to stupid to think about ---
**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:** [July 1, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/2 "2009-07-01T17:36:52Z")
Stanislaw Lem’s [Solaris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(novel)) features a planet that is a single gigantic life form. Probably something bigger out there, though. I’m not sure why you think “stupid want contests” would be unique to comic books, for this kind of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/3 "2009-07-01T17:47:02Z")
In a semi-sequel to his novelization of the _Star Trek: The Animated Series_ episode “The Eye of the Beholder,” Alan Dean Foster wrote about the jawanda, a gigantic but wispy space-tissue kind of critter which lived in interstellar space and fed off background radiation. It avoided gravity wells at all costs. The _Enterprise_ captures one using several small, independently-powered moons supplied by the Lactrans, a very technologically-advanced race which collects alien lifeforms. The moons, properly aligned, form a gravity well from which the jawanda cannot escape (I know, I know). A preposterous but fun story. In terms of mass, a jawanda is relatively small compared to Lem’s living planet, but in terms of wingspan, there’s no contest. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/4 "2009-07-01T17:49:15Z")
“Clovie” from the _Cloverfield_ movie was pretty large and nigh invulnerable. Does that count as Sci-Fi, though? ---
**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:** [July 1, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/5 "2009-07-01T17:49:24Z")
Similar to that, in Fred Hoyle’s _The Black Cloud_, the titular creature is an insterstellar cloud of sentient hydrogen, some 150 million kilometers in diameter. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/6 "2009-07-01T17:50:32Z")
The Star Wars Expanded Universe has the Yuuzhang Vong Worldships. Warhammer 40,000 has the Eldar Craftworlds, which are grown from wraithbone. They might not count as creatures, though, and I don’t think they’re as big as they sound. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/7 "2009-07-01T18:02:29Z")
The space slug from Empire was darn big. Jeff Russell’s [starship dimension chart](http://www.merzo.net/) (click on “-2x”) shows that just the part we see coming out of the asteroid is bigger than a star destroyer. [Wookiepedia](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Space_slug) says it’s likely to be 900 meters. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/8 "2009-07-01T18:09:21Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The space slug from Empire was darn big. Jeff Russell’s [starship dimension chart](http://www.merzo.net/) (click on “-2x”) shows that just the part we see coming out of the asteroid is bigger than a star destroyer. [Wookiepedia](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Space_slug) says it’s likely to be 900 meters. Huh. I never realized how big the ships were in Babylon 5. I’d have guessed that a Star Destroyer would be easily twice the size of the _Agamemnon_. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/9 "2009-07-01T18:13:52Z")
In the episode “Back to Reality” from _Red Dwarf_, Rimmer describes the Despair Squid as being the size of New Mexico. I suppose it’s just possible he was exaggerating a touch. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/10 "2009-07-01T18:26:22Z")
The “giant loogie” creature from [Evolution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_(film)) was pretty damn big… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/11 "2009-07-01T18:30:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Huh. I never realized how big the ships were in Babylon 5. I’d have guessed that a Star Destroyer would be easily twice the size of the _Agamemnon_. Hit -100x and check out the Super Star Destroyer. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/12 "2009-07-01T18:40:54Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Stanislaw Lem’s [Solaris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(novel)) features a planet that is a single gigantic life form. Probably something bigger out there, though. I’m not sure why you think “stupid want contests” would be unique to comic books, for this kind of thing. Technically, I’m pretty sure it was a sentient _ocean_. I don’t think the solid matter of the planet and its core were part of the being. That’s not the case with the Earth itself in Arthur Conan Doyle’s _When the World Screamed_, about the sentient Earth’s reaction to having a drill stuck deeoply into it. Possibly the stupidest Edward Challenger story. Marvel comics had **Ego** , the Living Planet (originally in **Thor** , although he branched out). Just the opponent for the planet-eating Galactus. ---
**Author:** ![Staale\_Nordlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Staale\_Nordlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staale_Nordlie)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/13 "2009-07-01T18:44:31Z")
A [budong](http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Budong) (from Farscape) is _really_ big. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/14 "2009-07-01T18:45:05Z")
Gaea in John Varley’s Gaea Trilogy is a ring 1,300 kilometers across. The Spheres in _The Shattered Sphere_ are both organic and machine ( the aliens in the series, the Charonians, make no distinction between the two ), and are living Dyson Spheres. The Anabis of _The Voyage of the Space Beagle_ is a vaporous entity that fills it’s entire galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/15 "2009-07-01T18:47:10Z")
I’m not sure on their biggest size, but Farscape had the [budong](http://farscape.wikia.com/wiki/Budong). ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/16 "2009-07-01T18:49:36Z")
The [Lexx](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx#The_Lexx) was pretty big, but not the biggest. I think the Gigashadow on that show was bigger. That chart that was linked to has the Vorlon Planet-Killer as being very big, much larger than the Lexx. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/17 "2009-07-01T18:58:20Z")
The avanc in China Mieville’s the scar was hefty - and brilliantly realised. Nothing planet sized, but a few square miles in size. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/18 "2009-07-01T19:14:22Z")
I think it was in one of the Flinx books by Alan Dean Foster. A creature called the Vom. Pretty damn big. Maybe someone else’s memory is better. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/19 "2009-07-01T19:15:24Z")
In Asimov’s later Foundation books, he put forth the idea that the entire Galaxy functioned as a single living organism, similar to the way Gaia functions as a living planet. If that counts, it’s going to be hard to beat (though there’s surely something out there with a living parallel universe). And Discworld is fantasy, not science fiction, but Great A’Tuin the Star Turtle is unquestionably a single organism, and about the size of a planet. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593/20 "2009-07-01T19:16:39Z")
> [@Carl\_Corey](#): > > I think it was in one of the Flinx books by Alan Dean Foster. A creature called the Vom. Pretty damn big. Maybe someone else’s memory is better. _Bloodhype_. Big, but not on the scale talked about in this thread. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-organic-creature-in-sci-fi/501593.md?page=2)