Apparently Caddisflies are immune to TTX?

[Sith the turtle]

A Beautiful Web of Poison Extends A New Strand - The Loom : The Loom I take it with a grain of salt, but apparently Caddisflies that live in the Rough-skinned newts range are immune to TTX as well? Anyone know if there's any truth to this?

 

[sde]

A Beautiful Web of Poison Extends A New Strand - The Loom : The Loom I take it with a grain of salt, but apparently Caddisflies that live in the Rough-skinned newts range are immune to TTX as well? Anyone know if there's any truth to this?

It is true. Caddisfly larvae are immune. Here is a quote from a paper on it, written by Brian G. Gall & Amber N. Stokes & Susannah S. French &
Edmund D. Brodie III & Edmund D. Brodie, Jr.

Abstract Caddisfly larvae (Limnophilus spp.) are important
predators of eggs of the rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa).
Newts may possess extremely large quantities of the
neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their skin, and females
may provision this toxin in their eggs. Using a competitive
inhibition enzymatic immunoassay, we examined TTXresistant
caddisflies, sympatric with the known most toxic
population of newts, for the presence of TTX. We found that
caddisflies sequester TTX after consuming eggs in the laboratory.
Caddisfly larvae that were frozen immediately after
collecting in the wild possessed TTX. Finally, wild-caught
larvae reared on a TTX-free diet in the laboratory retained
TTX for up to 134 days, through metamorphosis and into
the adult stage.

They also are a big nuisance in aquariums, using plant leaves to make their "cocoons".