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Description

(...) Dragonflies spend much of their early lives underwater. As underwater insects they are known as nymphs, and unlike most pond insects they do not have to come to the surface for air. For most of their lives, nymphs live totally underwater where they are highly successful predators, feeding on anything from leaf litter to small fish. During this stage of its life, the nymph goes through a series of ‘moults’ — stages of maturity in which it sheds its skin but still remain as a nymph. These stages of the insect’s life can last several years, and during this time it has no idea whatsoever of what kind of future lies ahead. It is undergoing a series of ‘hidden’ mutations. Then, one day, all of a sudden, some sleeping gene deep within is triggered and the nymph does something totally out of character — it finds the stalk of a nearby plant and climbs out of the water. For the first time in its life it tastes air and direct sunlight.

-Richard Rudd, The 55th Gene Key

Description

(...) Dragonflies spend much of their early lives underwater. As underwater insects they are known as nymphs, and unlike most pond insects they do not have to come to the surface for air. For most of their lives, nymphs live totally underwater where they are highly successful predators, feeding on anything from leaf litter to small fish. During this stage of its life, the nymph goes through a series of ‘moults’ — stages of maturity in which it sheds its skin but still remain as a nymph. These stages of the insect’s life can last several years, and during this time it has no idea whatsoever of what kind of future lies ahead. It is undergoing a series of ‘hidden’ mutations. Then, one day, all of a sudden, some sleeping gene deep within is triggered and the nymph does something totally out of character — it finds the stalk of a nearby plant and climbs out of the water. For the first time in its life it tastes air and direct sunlight.

-Richard Rudd, The 55th Gene Key