Shai-Hulud - the deity of Arrakis

Created by the American writer Frank Herbert, the Dune universe is a huge, well-thought-out world, the central core of which is the planet Arrakis, also known as Rakis or simply Dune. And, undoubtedly, one of the most famous and recognizable inhabitants of Arrakis is Shai-Hulud.

Creators of Arrakis

A giant worm is not just the largest animal on the planet and in the known universe, it is literally the creator of Dune in the form in which humanity knows it. And, of course, the most famous product of the life of the worm - melange, spice or spice - a substance that can prolong life, provide the ability to foresee and cause hallucinations.

Worm and Aborigines

Frank Herbert actively used oriental motifs in his work, so one can safely say that Shai-Khulud is a derivative of the Arabian "eternal thing" or Persian "lord of eternity". In fact, the worm seems almost immortal, no one knows for sure the maximum duration of his life, but sexual maturity these creatures reach only after a thousand years. Kill this creature is very difficult, each of the segments of its huge body is independent of the rest and in case of critical damage it is simply replaced by the remaining ones.

The giant worm is the basis of the culture of the Dune aborigines, it is worshiped as a deity. Local residents did not hesitate, having caught a young individual, to drown it in water to get the Water of life - an easy narcotic. Melange was also widely used not only for the purposes of geriatrics and clairvoyance, everything was made from spice literally: from cloth to explosives. Adult individuals are used as vehicles.

The structure and metabolism of the worm

In fact, this animal is a colony of beings, and not a single organism. It is quite simple, Shai-Hulud is a worm consisting of a number of ring segments, with a canal that runs along the length of the whole body. The first segment has a mouth, in adults it reaches a diameter of 80 meters and is dotted with hundreds of silicon teeth of unusual severity. Fremen, the indigenous inhabitants of Arrakis, use these teeth to make the famous Kris Knives all over the Universe. Teeth come into play mainly during the battles between the worms themselves, the Lords of Eternity have no natural enemies. The second segment contains a reproductive organ.

Next start the main segments, not different from each other and easily interchangeable. Everyone has an isolated nervous system, breathing is carried out through the skin, there is no circulatory system as such, nutrient exchange occurs in a gaseous form.

The metabolism of the worm is poorly described, but it is known that the products of its metabolism are sand and oxygen. Thus, over the millennia of its existence, the giants changed Arrakis, making it suitable for their existence and for breathing people. Sand, being a waste of the life of Shai-Hulud, is also their natural habitat, as the energy of the worms is obtained through the electrostatic potential difference, moving through the sand.

Life cycle

Shai-Hulud is a bipedal creature, for the reproduction of which a mating process is required. A female worm, ready for reproduction, begins to prepare a nest. She does not choose any special place, the sand is the same everywhere, that's why in an arbitrarily chosen place the creature is selected to the surface and starts striking its head on the soil surface, compacting the sand and making a depression. Ground shocks from these impacts attract a male. Fremen often use this feature for hunting sandworms, making manki-traps.

When a male and a female meet, the male absorbs the reproductive organ of the female, and it itself dies. A rather intricate way of pairing, but not unique, something similar can be observed in sea anglers. For some time the male remains in place, being under the influence of chemical compounds in the skin of the female, fertilization takes place at this time. Then the worm leaves a fertilized ovary in the nest and leaves the mating site.

Some time in the ovary the fission process occurs, mesaspase is formed, after which the shell bursts, releasing hundreds of larvae of Shai-Hulud - sand trout. Sand trout are formless unicellular creatures, quite large, able to travel under the sand of the Dunes for thousands of kilometers in search of water. After absorbing water, the larvae return to the nest, releasing the liquid mixed with the products of their vital activity and carbon dioxide.

Over time, the amount of gas becomes so large that the nest breaks out, onto the surface of the Dune. This phenomenon is called the breakthrough of melange, since it is the contents of the nest under the influence of the sun and air that turns into spice. With a breakout, most of the trout die, and in the remaining ones the process of metamorphosis starts. Creatures coalesce together, one of the trout forms into the first segment with the mouth, the second forms the reproductive organ, the rest become the base segments. Young worms are unstable, and under the action of water they can dissolve again and turn into larvae. Also they are asexual, the sexual system is differentiated later. Most new worms become females.

Shai-Hulud around us

The image of a giant creature moving beneath the sand was so successful that it broke out beyond the Dune world and wandered from book to book and from film to film, not forgetting video games. Sarlack from the universe of "Star Wars", thresher from Mass Effect - excellent examples. But the most interesting is that a similar creature lives not far away, here on planet Earth. The Eunice Aphroditois worm , of course, does not reach a length of 400 meters, but its 2-3 meters can impress.