[Roysten]

That's a good point, you'd suspect they'd have few children and probably before being joined depending on how they reproduced, otherwise they'd have to force themselves out of their host somehow to mate.

[horatio]

They are worms so they probably reproduce asexually. I also guess that they are not particularly intelligent, just long-living and equipped with a decent memory but that might be just be primate chauvinism.

[Captain Tom Coughlin]

I think that they are intelligent, and make up a significant portion of a joined Trill's personality. They hint at that often, and I think it goes deeper than mere memory. That would suggest that the symbionts are sentient beings, which is how I've always viewed them.

[Commodore]

Originally Posted by kevin

Given how long lived the symbiont's are you might suspect that they don't breed frequently or in large numbers. Otherwise the Trill society would need more hosts.

Yeah, I think it's been suggested that there aren't that many symbionts and that joined Trills were rare. It's possible that the symbionts are an endangered or dying species and that joining with a humanoid host was the best way for their species to survive.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

I think that they are intelligent, and make up a significant portion of a joined Trill's personality. They hint at that often, and I think it goes deeper than mere memory. That would suggest that the symbionts are sentient beings, which is how I've always viewed them.

That makes obviously more sense but DS9 also suggested that the personality of Dax changes quite a bit between hosts so the Dax symbiont could be more of a link between the different Daxes than an actual part of the Dax personality.

Just a crazy image I have somehow of the Trill, as I said your post makes far more sense.