Honestly /an/, what's the purpose of Silverfish? They're

>>2408285
all biomass is consumed at some trophic level(s).

File: Fancy Maggot.jpg (25KB, 360x360px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 360x360px

>>2408285
Decomposers, prey species for spiders, centipedes, earwigs, and other small predators, as well as hosts to various parasites.

That said, this sorta mind set really irks me, because most of the time people ask this, they actually mean "How does it benefit me or the cute/cool animals I like?"

>>2408285
I hate them because brown recluses love them.

>>2408297
Tbh anon, you're not wrong at all, and I have no problem for anything that stays outside of my living space.

Still that being said, fuck these bugs. I'd rather have spiderbros than silverfish.

>>2408300
Well, spiderbros that don't cause flesh necrosis.
>>2408298
No brown recluses in Virginia thankfully

>>2408306
>No brown recluses in Virginia thankfully
Oh, you will. Climate range is letting them expand northward. You might also get the brain-eating amoeba, too, if you don't have it already.

>>2408297
I fully acknowledge the ecological role of all species but I still advocate every day for the systematic destruction of all mosquitoes by any means and at any cost necessary

>>2408297
What purpose do the parasites serve?

>>2408317
>You might also get the brain-eating amoeba, too, if you don't have it already.

It's too late for us anon...Someone actually died from nagleria back in 2011.

>>2408320
bacteria or fungi eat them when they die :v)

>>2408320
Living things don't need to serve a purpose. They just need to live and breed

As insects come they're pretty cute, I've had a few of them living under my auger for years.
They come out at night to eat morsels I've dropped when cooking.

They are literally your ancestors. Apologize.

>>2408697
>your

Fuck you E.T. you're not my real dad

>>2408285
can we just have a sticky for idiots wanting entire species to die? I'm sick of these threads

>>2408285
If they don't eat your books, who will?

>>2408706
can we have a containment sticky for these fee fees fags

>>2408320
What purpose does anything serve desu

File: 2017-06-16_08-40-25.jpg (4MB, 4128x3096px) Image search: [Google]

4MB, 4128x3096px

Posting a cool photo I took of a silverfish.

>>2408767
dude this thread will just be made over and over again forever but the content never changes
>this thing useless!!1!!
>(basic explanation on how ecosystems work)
>but how about parasites!!!1!!
>(basic explanation on how ecosystems work)
>spirals into shitposts
decent threads shouldn't have to die for this

>>2408780
This thread will just be replaced by
*blocks your path*
Who would win in a fight between...
Found baby bird, halp what do?
Bitch about dog whisperer general
Pitbull hate threads
Cat hate threads
Etc, etc.
It's the new /an/ I guess.

>>2408783
I sincerely hope that these shitty threads are just being made by clueless newcomers and not the people who should know better.

File: 1491552910545.png (185KB, 1257x550px) Image search: [Google]

185KB, 1257x550px

>>2408796

>>2408777
that is pretty cool

>>2408797
This needs updated. 10 years here is not a newfag. Go for it anon, make it right.

>>2408320
Population control, environmentally borne control for species. Creates more pressure for a species to adapt to a dangerous environment.

>>2408285
Their purpose is to be little bros that live in your bathroom and eat dandruff and dust etc.

>>2408815
>Go for it anon, make it right.
I would, but I'm just cancer.
Which still means I've been here before the great reddit exodus.

>>2408285
They are cute, wiggly, trash eaters.

>>2408320
>living thing
>purpose
nice meme

>>2408797
Damn, just barely missed newfag status.

Why does no one talk about firebrats?

To make mining strongholds more difficult.

>>2408297
What use do heart works and the such have

>>2408929
This guy knows what's up.
Fucking hissing bastards.

>>2408291
This, "____ has no ecological role" is the dumbest shit you can say.

>>2408320
to serve as a reminder of God's hatred towards Man.

File: firebrats.jpg (55KB, 640x447px) Image search: [Google]

55KB, 640x447px

>>2408870

>>2408319
>not including bedbugs in your list

>>2408815
You will forever be a newfag, deal with it.

>>2408285
They eat roach eggs... also they pleasant to look at especially when they change course

>>2408320
M8, disease in general is a major check on a species' population growth.

Disease is nature's way of culling excessive numbers before they completely wipe out their food sources.

>>2410127
>Disease is nature's way of culling excessive numbers before they completely wipe out their food sources.

>implying 'nature' cares if you die from disease instead of starvation
>implying animals don't starve anyways
>implying disease itself isn't caused by organisms that succeed every time their host fails
>implying disease organisms don't wipe out their food souces
>implying nature should make diseases to control the populations of diseases

>>2408797
[spoiler] I'm from the Reddit era and i'm sad i'll never get to experience 4chan before it got swarmed by idiotic shitposters that think being anonymous means they should act like cunts. [/spoiler]

>>2410133
>before it got swarmed by idiotic shitposters that think being anonymous means they should act like cunts
yeah, that lasted for almost the first 3 minutes the site operated.

4chan has if anything gotten much nicer over the years.

>>2410132
>implying a bunch of shit I never said
Maybe it would hurt your autism less if I said that it's just how ecosystems work.

Surge in a population results in both decrease of whatever population/resource they need to survive and a similar surge in contagious pathogens that feed on the subject population. There's a gradual mass die-off except among those that are resistant/healthy enough to survive, and that reduction of population causes the food population/resource to gradually reaccumulate.

Is that better?

>>2410139
>Is that better?
much.

>>2408285
Judging by the debris around black house-spider webs they serve as food. As does the black house spider serve as food for the white-tailed spider.
The web of life, eh?

File: 4fc.jpg (40KB, 680x346px) Image search: [Google]

40KB, 680x346px

>>2410133
John Gabriel, is that you?

>>2408797
>started browsing after 2013
too late
should be started browsing after 2007

>>2410084
2006 April. Call me a newfag if you want, I dumped free fill dirt on your mother's driveway before you were big enough to be the child labor team that removed it, faggot.

I think they are cute honestly and find the way they move fascinating. Dunno what the big deal is? Do the bite or something ?

File: 1434220051873.jpg (44KB, 425x960px) Image search: [Google]

44KB, 425x960px

>>2408285
>implying life itself even serves a purpose

Evolution doesn't work like this. Silverfish exist because nothing has been able to kill all of them and they continue to breed while refusing to lie down and die. That's why they exists. That's even why we exist.

When a predator stalks you do you plead your case and extol your importance to the biosphere or do you fight/flight?

>>2408831
i hate the fact that this describes many of my favourite animals perfectly

>>2410280
>getting this hung up on the word "purpose"
No, there is no greater purpose to life; a life form is just a self replicating protein pattern that has over millions of years grown enormously complex in the means it employs to reliably perpetuate itself.

But the sum interactions of said lifeforms in an area (which we call ecosystems) generally tend to gravitate to an relatively stable equilibrium state. The role that a given type of lifeform plays in this equilibrium state is what people other than yourself call its "purpose" in the ecosystem.

Before getting self-righteous, consider whether maybe the word that has your dander up has a non-retarded interpretation that you're just missing.

>>2408797
I might be cancer but at least I'm not Reddit

>>2408320
They've created their own purpose. They strengthen immune systems. If parasites suddenly disappeared our immune systems would have nothing to attack and would attack our own bodies instead. Even if you magically got rid of parasites and gave all humans "perfect" immunity more parasites would evolve pretty quickly because it's an easy niche to fill.

Also what they said. Life doesn't "serve a purpose," it simply "fills a role."

>>2410127
Parasites aren't needed for this. Predators also do it and populations would "control themselves" anyway due to fluctuating resource availability.

>>2410318
>getting this hung up on the word "purpose"
What, do you actually think OP meant anything different than what that anon was implying?

>>2408291
What are humans consumed by

>>2410720
Bacteria, detrivores.

>>2410720
Hell's flames.

File: 1200px-Sunfish2.jpg (213KB, 1200x979px) Image search: [Google]

213KB, 1200x979px

Argue that this has any purpose as a living thing.

>>2410931
it exists so we can feel better about ourselves

>>2408285
I feed them to my spider

File: tumblr_o5wzkh3swx1scdmnro1_500.jpg (35KB, 500x375px) Image search: [Google]

35KB, 500x375px

why does an animal even need a purpose, Every species is unique and wonderful. A culmination of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years of experimentation and refining to fulfill a niche. No animal should disappear without an exact record of their genetic code and a reverence for just how amazing that not only it, but all of us exist with a unique makeup and personal history. All life is beautiful and anything that has to die should be treated as a necessary evil not a privilege.

File: 1483313619791.gif (3MB, 225x324px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 225x324px

Silverfish a cute

>>2411382
I'm very proud of that rat

The only species to serve no real purpose in any ecosystems aside from destroying them is humans

We need to be annihilated, like right now

>>2408797
man... newfag forever

>>2410720
We at the top foo

>>2408285
Are these guys hazardous to have around? I've got some in my closet.

>>2411485
they're harmless, wiggly little friends

>>2410931
Fucking /an/ always bullying the poor guy

>>2410720
worms