Sandtrout
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Sandtrout are fictional creatures from Frank Herbert's Dune series. They are described as resembling large freshwater leeches, amorphous blobs or slugs.
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[edit] Ecology
Sandtrout are the larval form of a Sandworm. They possess the ability to transform an entire Earth-like planet into desert by linking their bodies together to encapsulate massive bodies of water. This in turn allows mature Sandworms to survive, as a water-laden environment is normally lethal to the adult worm.
In Children of Dune, Leto Atreides II tells his twin sister Ghanima:
The sandtrout ... was introduced here from some other place. This was a wet planet then. They proliferated beyond the capability of existing ecosystems to deal with them. Sandtrout encysted the available free water, made this a desert planet ... and they did it to survive. In a planet sufficiently dry, they could move to their sandworm phase.
[edit] Spice
Sandtrout are responsible for the production of the drug melange, a compound which is central to the economy of the Dune series. As sandtrout surround large bodies of water, they chemically alter the liquid into pre-spice mass, the precursor of melange and food source for adult Sandworms. The chemical process generates carbon dioxide, which eventually accumulate to sufficient volume to produce a violent explosion, killing the majority of the larva and scattering spice across the surface of the planet.
[edit] Uses
When squeezed, sandtrout excrete a highly potent form of melange that is highly energizing to humans. They are also used by Fremen children as toys, who attach them to sticks and play games with them.
[edit] Leto Atreides II
Sandtrout were used by Leto Atreides II to turn himself into a giant Sandworm. After consuming massive amounts of spice, Atreides covered one hand with a sandtrout. The concentration of spice in his blood allowed him to fool the creature into believing he was actually a body of water formed by other trout. He subsequently covered his body in a continuous layer by linking subsequent sandtrout to this 'glove' by their cilia. This layer gave him tremendous strength and protection from mature Sandworms, who would mistake his sandtrout-covered body for a lethal mass of water.
Gradually this layer of larvae transformed his body into that of a giant Sandworm, until his metabolism and biochemistry were a human-Sandworm hybrid. The process also modified the trout, making subsequent offspring tougher and more adaptable and allowing them to be settled on other worlds. This ensured the survival of the Sandworm species and was part of his presciently-forseen Golden Path.
