The Sluggy Wake
Yesterday a slug in my tank died. This wasn't a complete surprise - it was a large slug, and large slugs are more likely to have problems after shipping. And it had been acting a little oddly the day before. Still, it's not a good thing to come in to find a dead slug*. I gathered it up and disposed of the remains.
When I came back, all the slugs loose in the tank had gathered where the one that had died had been. I was trying to feed my post-procedure slugs, who were not interested in food.** The slugs gathered below had no such qualms, however, and all three of them got head-wavey as soon as they smelled the seaweed. Since happy eating slugs put out happy eating slug phermones (no joke, this is well documented) that will sometimes convince nearby slugs that are off their feed to get back on it, I alternated between enticing my post-procedure slugs with feeding the slugs below strips of seaweed. Soon they had quite the rollicking sluggy wake. (And the more recovered post-procedure slug even deigned to eat a little nori. Score!)
Of course, as is wont to occur at these gatherings, things got a little out of hand, and then next thing I knew, slugs were attempting to chow down on the airstones. Still, it's all fun and games until someone everts their odontophore, right?*** And no slugs were harmed during the events described.
And having been describing these creatures for a while now, I finally got around to uploading one of my feeding slug videos for your edification.
And as a bonus - Navanax vs. Aplysia (May be upsetting for sensitive individuals. However, may be cheering for gardeners.)
* Furthermore, there is an ongoing debate about what actually constitues "dead" for a slug. They can, for instance, have a lot of local reflexes after their ganglia are no longer functioning. For that matter, you can remove their ganglia, and they'll still be happily firing away the next day (under ideal circumstances). This is important, because they go from "mostly dead" to "dead and rotting" very quickly.
** In this particular case, this is a very good thing. Well, for me, if not for them. I've gotten some very inconsistent results from one of the surgical procedures, and I'd hypothesized that it might have to do with damage that occurs with the feeding apperatus turns fully inside-out accidentally during some of the procedures. So this group of slugs had their odontophores everted, and then reassembled, without having any further surgery done.
*** Oh, yeah, the Aplysia will sometimes manage to evert their own odontophores, usually by trying to hard to eat something that refuses to be eaten. If no one is around to reassemble the poor slug in time, this will sometimes lead to most of their esophagus protruding from the body, and even when it does not is most always fatal.
When I came back, all the slugs loose in the tank had gathered where the one that had died had been. I was trying to feed my post-procedure slugs, who were not interested in food.** The slugs gathered below had no such qualms, however, and all three of them got head-wavey as soon as they smelled the seaweed. Since happy eating slugs put out happy eating slug phermones (no joke, this is well documented) that will sometimes convince nearby slugs that are off their feed to get back on it, I alternated between enticing my post-procedure slugs with feeding the slugs below strips of seaweed. Soon they had quite the rollicking sluggy wake. (And the more recovered post-procedure slug even deigned to eat a little nori. Score!)
Of course, as is wont to occur at these gatherings, things got a little out of hand, and then next thing I knew, slugs were attempting to chow down on the airstones. Still, it's all fun and games until someone everts their odontophore, right?*** And no slugs were harmed during the events described.
And having been describing these creatures for a while now, I finally got around to uploading one of my feeding slug videos for your edification.
And as a bonus - Navanax vs. Aplysia (May be upsetting for sensitive individuals. However, may be cheering for gardeners.)
* Furthermore, there is an ongoing debate about what actually constitues "dead" for a slug. They can, for instance, have a lot of local reflexes after their ganglia are no longer functioning. For that matter, you can remove their ganglia, and they'll still be happily firing away the next day (under ideal circumstances). This is important, because they go from "mostly dead" to "dead and rotting" very quickly.
** In this particular case, this is a very good thing. Well, for me, if not for them. I've gotten some very inconsistent results from one of the surgical procedures, and I'd hypothesized that it might have to do with damage that occurs with the feeding apperatus turns fully inside-out accidentally during some of the procedures. So this group of slugs had their odontophores everted, and then reassembled, without having any further surgery done.
*** Oh, yeah, the Aplysia will sometimes manage to evert their own odontophores, usually by trying to hard to eat something that refuses to be eaten. If no one is around to reassemble the poor slug in time, this will sometimes lead to most of their esophagus protruding from the body, and even when it does not is most always fatal.