Thursday Invertebrate Blogging: Mellow Yellow

Electrical banana
Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana
Is bound to be the very next phase
They call it mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)

Today's TIB critter comes to us courtesy of special guest photographer and  soon to be world-famous planetary scientist, Dr. Jonathan Fortney.

It's Ariolimax columbianus, the beloved BANANA SLUG!

I assume this specimen was photographed near the residence of Dr. Fortney and his lovely wife Katie. This is significant, because their home is a mere hop, skip and jump (or perhaps crawl, slither and ooze) from the campus of the University of California at Santa Cruz, which has proudly adopted the BS as their school mascot.

Everything you always wanted to know about banana slugs but didn't dare ask can be found here. I found this information to be particularly enlightening:

Slime has many functions. One is to keep the slug's skin moist so it can breathe through it. A slug breathes through its skin and just like the insides of our lungs, the skin must be moist to exchange gases. The slime gathers moisture out of the air like a sponge on damp days and out of the soil under logs on dry days.

A second function of the slime is to protect the slug from predators. They simply hump up their body to make a bigger animal and produce a thick milky mucous. Most animals and birds do not like the slimey texture and the fact that it gets goey-er when it is put in their mouth. Also, when the slime comes in contact with a moist surface, it contains an anasthetic which temporarily causes the membranes to go numb. Raccoons will eat slugs but roll them in dirt first to bind up the slime. Garter snakes, ducks, geese and some salamanders will also eat them too. Baby slugs are eaten by shrews, moles and birds.

Another function of slime is it is used in movement. Slime on the underside of a slug's body comes in contact with leaves and sticks on the forest floor. This slime coats the leaves, allowing the slug to move over, under and around them easily. A trail of slime is left behind it as it moves along. As well, a slug that has climbed a tree can get down quickly by dropping to the ground safely from a string made of slime.

Slime is useful in mating too. A slug that is ready to find a mate and lay eggs leaves a chemical in the slime to attract other slugs. Another slug smells the chemical and follows the trail to the slug who left it.

Scientists have tried to reproduce slug slime because it is one of the best natural glues and may be of use in the medical field. But somehow, a slug is able to make what no human scientist with years of experience can. Perhaps if they can figure out what component is missing, we will one day have slug sticks instead of glue sticks!

Who knew slime had so many uses?

Let's hear it for slime!

 

Comments

[seconteen]

ITS SLIIINKMAN!!!!!!!! XDDD;;

[Jess]

Never mind. I have my answer: the general description of a banana slug includes the brown spots.

[Jess]

Are most Californian banana slugs so yellow? The ones in PNW look more like older bananas, with a dingier yellow and brown spots.

[Gordon]

Noted and logged. Thanks hb.

[hellbent]

I too grew up in SoCal. We had slugs, but not banana slugs. I saw my first banana slug on a camping trip to a rainforest in the Pacific Northwest, so I think you are right about the wetter clime.

Snails never leave their shells. They keep adding layers to them as they grow. It's likely that snail shells are made from a substance very similar to slime, with slime being an evolutionary precursor to shells.

[Gordon]

I don't think the BS gets as far south as SoCal. I lived in L.A. for my first 35 years and don't remember seeing them. I think they need a wetter clime. Maybe it was a snail that was in between shells(?) although there were some small slugs.

[Jessamy]

My brother Chris ate half a slug when he was really little. Mom found him at that point, which is why he only ate half. We were living in So. Cal., so I guess it could have been a banana slug. Hmm.