Swimming tampon/cigarette-like creatures in outhouse toilet water?
July 8, 2010 10:58 PM Subscribe
White larvae/bug/fish was swimming in the latrine water at our camp site? Looked like the white part of a cigarette with a tail it moved like a sperm to swim around the outhouse water? No, it wasn't a tampon... Those don't swim around like crazed cigarette sperm!
I was at the campsite latrine in a northern California camp ground near the coast. It was around 10:00pm so I was using my headlamp to see the toilet paper when I noticed something moving in the water ~6' below. I looked again, in horror, and saw ...
... About 10-15 white ... Things ... Swimming around. I couldn't look away from the little creatures.
About 1" long body that was shaped like a cylinder (like half a cigarette).
It had a tail that was like a tadpool's but thinner and very white. If you've seen sperm under a microscope it moved about the same way pushing the creatures around the murky, nasty water.
It was not a tampon, it was not a tadpool both of which I'm -- for better or worse -- relatively familiar with. My eyesight is good and I was awfully close to sober.
WTF?!? What lives in shit water in a latrine!?!?
If you figure this out with google I'd be fascinated to know what your search string was.
I was at the campsite latrine in a northern California camp ground near the coast. It was around 10:00pm so I was using my headlamp to see the toilet paper when I noticed something moving in the water ~6' below. I looked again, in horror, and saw ...
... About 10-15 white ... Things ... Swimming around. I couldn't look away from the little creatures.
About 1" long body that was shaped like a cylinder (like half a cigarette).
It had a tail that was like a tadpool's but thinner and very white. If you've seen sperm under a microscope it moved about the same way pushing the creatures around the murky, nasty water.
It was not a tampon, it was not a tadpool both of which I'm -- for better or worse -- relatively familiar with. My eyesight is good and I was awfully close to sober.
WTF?!? What lives in shit water in a latrine!?!?
If you figure this out with google I'd be fascinated to know what your search string was.
Nematodes or planaria maybe?
posted by IvoShandor at 11:32 PM on July 8, 2010
posted by IvoShandor at 11:32 PM on July 8, 2010
Best answer: Rat-tailed maggot? (YouTube)
posted by tomcooke at 12:01 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by tomcooke at 12:01 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Definitely rat-tailed maggot. Giles Coren was asking about them on his Twitter today. They're hoverfly larvae. Hoverflies are very good bugs.
posted by elsietheeel at 12:45 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by elsietheeel at 12:45 AM on July 9, 2010
Best answer: I'd consider stop using the outhouse and heading for the bushes if the need arises. From Wikipedia:
There have occasionally been documented cases of human intestinal Myiasis of the Rat-tailed maggot (larvae of Eristalis tenax). Symptoms can be none (asymptomatic) to abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, or pruritus ani. Infection can be caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water but doubts have been expressed that accidentally ingested fly larvae could survive in the gastrointestinal tract. Zumpt proposed an alternative called "rectal myiasis". Flies, attracted to feces, may deposit their eggs or larvae near or into the anus, and the larvae then penetrate further into the rectum. They can survive feeding on feces at this site, as long as the breathing tube reaches towards the anus. (emphasis mine)
Ugh.
posted by cronholio at 1:34 AM on July 9, 2010
There have occasionally been documented cases of human intestinal Myiasis of the Rat-tailed maggot (larvae of Eristalis tenax). Symptoms can be none (asymptomatic) to abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, or pruritus ani. Infection can be caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water but doubts have been expressed that accidentally ingested fly larvae could survive in the gastrointestinal tract. Zumpt proposed an alternative called "rectal myiasis". Flies, attracted to feces, may deposit their eggs or larvae near or into the anus, and the larvae then penetrate further into the rectum. They can survive feeding on feces at this site, as long as the breathing tube reaches towards the anus. (emphasis mine)
Ugh.
posted by cronholio at 1:34 AM on July 9, 2010
Best answer: Can't poop, maggots will eat me. [rocks back & forth]
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:25 AM on July 9, 2010 [26 favorites]
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 3:25 AM on July 9, 2010 [26 favorites]
Best answer: Here's a close-up photo. If they're rat-tailed maggots, they're good for fishing, and you can buy them in tubs of 500 (I'm sure you could just have an order shipped to Emperor SnooKloze), but, hey, you just found some for free!
posted by AzraelBrown at 5:00 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by AzraelBrown at 5:00 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
I am so glad I read this first thing this morning, instead of last thing before bed last night.
posted by ErikaB at 5:38 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ErikaB at 5:38 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
That beat, is kinda catchy! [also rocks back & forth]
posted by flabdablet at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by flabdablet at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010
Response by poster: Rat-tailed maggots FTW. Great work mefites!
Some of the photos and videos above actually look a bit different from what I saw, but perusing google images I saw some examples that are very close to what I saw ... a bit longer and larger, I guess they have a good food supply (shudder):
This first photo is particularly close to what I saw. It includes this text:
"The rat-tailed maggot lives in highly polluted waters where all of the oxygen has been used up. How does it breathe? There is one adaptation shown in the image below."
http://goo.gl/SMs4
Here's another fairly similar photo:
http://goo.gl/iSPq
That photo was also from someone trying to identify the larvae, his discovery and description:
"As it turns out, this unusual-looking insect larva, is the larva of a rat-tailed maggot, (not the prettiest name, I know) [...] I now apparently have [...] them in my rain water collection tank...well that's just great!
Actually as it turns out it really is!
This insect larva belongs to a group of flies known as syrphid flies. Syrphids are also known as flower flies or hover flies. They mimic bees or wasps and are very common on flowers and plant foliage. Despite their threatening appearance, all syrphid flies are harmless to people and are actually beneficial because they help pollinate plants. While feeding, the larva raise their long, posterior respiratory tube vertically to the surface in order to breathe (shudders). Often all that can be seen of them is a group of breathing tubes sticking upwards from the mud and rotting leaves at the bottom of stagnant pools. which stands to reason as my water collection tank has a bunch of leaves in the bottom of it.
This tube is normally about 3/4 inches long, but the insect can telescope it out to several times the length of its body (longer shudders, followed by some small involuntary mouth movements)."
I don't remember these guys being mentioned in the "Circle of Life" song but I guess they're providing a valiant service, though I won't personally be feeding them ever again.
posted by unclezeb at 6:53 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
Some of the photos and videos above actually look a bit different from what I saw, but perusing google images I saw some examples that are very close to what I saw ... a bit longer and larger, I guess they have a good food supply (shudder):
This first photo is particularly close to what I saw. It includes this text:
"The rat-tailed maggot lives in highly polluted waters where all of the oxygen has been used up. How does it breathe? There is one adaptation shown in the image below."
http://goo.gl/SMs4
Here's another fairly similar photo:
http://goo.gl/iSPq
That photo was also from someone trying to identify the larvae, his discovery and description:
"As it turns out, this unusual-looking insect larva, is the larva of a rat-tailed maggot, (not the prettiest name, I know) [...] I now apparently have [...] them in my rain water collection tank...well that's just great!
Actually as it turns out it really is!
This insect larva belongs to a group of flies known as syrphid flies. Syrphids are also known as flower flies or hover flies. They mimic bees or wasps and are very common on flowers and plant foliage. Despite their threatening appearance, all syrphid flies are harmless to people and are actually beneficial because they help pollinate plants. While feeding, the larva raise their long, posterior respiratory tube vertically to the surface in order to breathe (shudders). Often all that can be seen of them is a group of breathing tubes sticking upwards from the mud and rotting leaves at the bottom of stagnant pools. which stands to reason as my water collection tank has a bunch of leaves in the bottom of it.
This tube is normally about 3/4 inches long, but the insect can telescope it out to several times the length of its body (longer shudders, followed by some small involuntary mouth movements)."
I don't remember these guys being mentioned in the "Circle of Life" song but I guess they're providing a valiant service, though I won't personally be feeding them ever again.
posted by unclezeb at 6:53 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: I was curious about the "adaptation" mentioned here.
The body of the main article goes on in more detail:
"Dissolved oxygen levels may be so low that the only organisms that can survive are those with special adaptations for low oxygen levels, such as the Rat-tailed Maggot (above). The "rat tail" of the maggot is actually a "snorkel", an extension of the body bearing two spiracles and attached air tubes through which the maggot breathes. By extending the snorkel to the surface, the maggot can breathe a short distance down into the anoxic, yet food-rich water."
Creepy little bugger with a snorkel ... shouldn't this resolve the evolution debate somehow?
posted by unclezeb at 9:52 AM on July 9, 2010
The body of the main article goes on in more detail:
"Dissolved oxygen levels may be so low that the only organisms that can survive are those with special adaptations for low oxygen levels, such as the Rat-tailed Maggot (above). The "rat tail" of the maggot is actually a "snorkel", an extension of the body bearing two spiracles and attached air tubes through which the maggot breathes. By extending the snorkel to the surface, the maggot can breathe a short distance down into the anoxic, yet food-rich water."
Creepy little bugger with a snorkel ... shouldn't this resolve the evolution debate somehow?
posted by unclezeb at 9:52 AM on July 9, 2010
I am never going to the bathroom again.
posted by Space Kitty at 12:40 PM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Space Kitty at 12:40 PM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
AskMe: Where else can you learn that the swimming tampon outhouse creature is actually a kind of maggot?
posted by ErikaB at 4:40 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by ErikaB at 4:40 PM on July 9, 2010
Response by poster: "AskMe: Where else can you learn that the swimming tampon outhouse creature is actually a kind of maggot?"
Exactly! When I told my friend (who thought I was crazy) that I would post the question on a forum they said, "you can't just 'ask the internet' anything!'" ... ask.theinternetanything.com, eh?
posted by unclezeb at 10:31 AM on July 10, 2010
Exactly! When I told my friend (who thought I was crazy) that I would post the question on a forum they said, "you can't just 'ask the internet' anything!'" ... ask.theinternetanything.com, eh?
posted by unclezeb at 10:31 AM on July 10, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Any other ideas?
posted by unclezeb at 11:28 PM on July 8, 2010