Sandworm Lifecycle

One of my kids is excited for the release of Dune: Part Three. We were talking about Dune, how the movies broke up the enormous book, and got on the topic of “sandtrout”.

I’ve read Dune in the past, the last time probably more than 35 years ago. My paper copy is the “Berkley Medallion Edition, January, 1977”, sixth printing, but it has a stamp on the inside front cover from The Book Rack, a used bookstore just off Colorado Boulevard in Denver, Colorado. I lived a few blocks from The Book Rack from 1990 to 1996, so 30 years ago sounds about right.

Appendix 1 of my copy of Dune has details on Sandworm lifecycle, which must constitute nearly the entire biosphere of the planet Arrakis. The appendix mentions Sandworms, microscopic creatures called sand plankton, something called “little makers” or sandtrout, and two forms of Sandworm, the common large type, and a smaller “primitive form”, the stunted worm.

Spice and “pre-spice mass” are given as two different things. Somehow, the water-hoarding little makers have something to do with creating “pre-spice masses”, which must be scattered on the surface of the planet to become the real thing, spice itself. It’s unclear if the scattered pre-spice oxidizes or matures into spice via some photo chemical reaction.

That’s the ecological web of relationships that Herbert describes. It’s hard to diagram all of what Herbert writes. I couldn’t find a good way to show spice blows motivating little makers to encyst on the diagram.

I believe the stunted worm is a different species, as Frank Herbert goes out of his way to say that they only reach 20 feet in length.

There are some mysteries and inconsistencies.

Is a sandworm an adult, or just a non-reproducing variant, like a worker bee? Herbert writes that a medium sized sandworm can produce a lot of molecular oxygen due to its metabolism. This means that the sandworm phase is a vital part of the ecosystem. Although Herbert mentions a “rare native root plant”, clearly not a lot of oxygen is produced via photosynthesis on Arrakis. Sand plankton is “microscopic creatures”,

What exactly is a “pre-spice mass”? The little makers segregate water, and at least some of the reservoirs they form become pre-spice masses. Is some other species or form of life involved, or is it all little maker?

Finally, what lays eggs? Where does the sand plankton start? Does a sandworm shed sand plankton buds? Does it scatter eggs? Does the sand plankton reproduce somehow (sexually or asexually)?

Look, none of this leaves a mark on the story. The actual ecosystem doesn’t matter as much as the human drama that plays out on it. There’s enough consistency in Herbert’s Arrakis ecosystem to make the rest of the story work, and that’s what counts.