DS9 and Discovery allow us to cobble together some kind of image on the lifespan of a Symbiont.
Dax was born in 2018 but didnt get joined to a host until 2160 with Lela being its first. We can infer that a Symbiont spends about 150 years in the pools before being joined. This allows to mature and also to breed as it wont be coming back.
Bix was nearing the end of its life in 3191 and was older than most Symbionts. Bix was joined to its first host around 2374 give or take. If we assume 150 years ish prior then Bix was born around 2224 and dying in 3191 then the Symbiont itself was around 967 years old at time of death and if this was older than most a 900 year lifespan is a safe estimate. If 950 was the average age then I dont think anyone would have called attention to it as 17 years is pretty insignificant on this scale.
So it can be safe to say Dax is dead by Discovery's future, leaving its final host and returning to the pools to die in the late 29teens or early 2920s which also means Dax did not live long enough to witness the Burn.
This does rely on the assumption that Dax not being joined to Lela until it was 152 years old is normal which there's no reason to assume it wasnt as they live out the entire rest of their lives joined so it stands to reason it will need time to mate and keep the population up and it would make sense that a Symbiont would have to be vetted just like the host. Also someone would have mentioned if there was something unusual about it, DS9 explored the lives of Dax many times so it would have come up. It seems a safe assumption Bix was of a similar age and was a Symbiont ready for its first host that happened to get chosen by Jinaal.
Dax was born in 2018 but didnt get joined to a host until 2160 with Lela being its first. We can infer that a Symbiont spends about 150 years in the pools before being joined. This allows to mature and also to breed as it wont be coming back.
Bix was nearing the end of its life in 3191 and was older than most Symbionts. Bix was joined to its first host around 2374 give or take. If we assume 150 years ish prior then Bix was born around 2224 and dying in 3191 then the Symbiont itself was around 967 years old at time of death and if this was older than most a 900 year lifespan is a safe estimate. If 950 was the average age then I dont think anyone would have called attention to it as 17 years is pretty insignificant on this scale.
So it can be safe to say Dax is dead by Discovery's future, leaving its final host and returning to the pools to die in the late 29teens or early 2920s which also means Dax did not live long enough to witness the Burn.
This does rely on the assumption that Dax not being joined to Lela until it was 152 years old is normal which there's no reason to assume it wasnt as they live out the entire rest of their lives joined so it stands to reason it will need time to mate and keep the population up and it would make sense that a Symbiont would have to be vetted just like the host. Also someone would have mentioned if there was something unusual about it, DS9 explored the lives of Dax many times so it would have come up. It seems a safe assumption Bix was of a similar age and was a Symbiont ready for its first host that happened to get chosen by Jinaal.
