Its common name derives from the insect's silvery light grey colour, combined with the fish-like appearance of its movements.

While the common name silverfish is used throughout the global literature to refer to various species of Zygentoma, the Entomological Society of America restricts use of the term solely for Lepisma saccharinum.

[13] In urban areas, they can be found in attics, basements, bathtubs, sinks, kitchens, old books, classrooms, and showers.

[14] Finally, the male lays a spermatophore, a sperm capsule covered in gossamer, which the female takes into her body via her ovipositor to fertilize her eggs.

[1] As they moult, young silverfish develop a greyish appearance and a metallic sheen, eventually becoming adults after three months to three years.

[5] These include book bindings, carpet, clothing, coffee, dandruff, glue, hair, some paints, paper, photos, plaster, and sugar.

Other substances they may eat include cotton, dead insects, linen, silk, leftover crumbs, or even their own exuviae (moulted exoskeleton).

[22][23][24] The essential oil of the Japanese cedar Cryptomeria japonica has been investigated as a repellent and insecticide against L. saccharinum, with promising results: filter paper impregnated with oil repelled 80% of silverfish at a gas concentration of 0.01 mg/cm3, and an exposure of 0.16 mg/cm3 for 10 hours caused a 100% mortality rate.

[25] The scientific name for the species is Lepisma saccharinum[26] (originally saccharina; Linnaeus' 1758 description here), due to its tendency to eat starchy foods high in carbohydrates and protein, such as dextrin.

They evolved at the latest in mid-Devonian and possibly as early as late Silurian more than 400 million years ago.

[31] Some fossilized arthropod trackways from the Paleozoic Era, known as Stiaria intermedia and often attributed to jumping bristletails, may have been produced by silverfish.