Elegant Slug

17 October 2007 9 Comments Home » Insects etc.

From the wilds of Pennsylvania (a rest stop on I-80), an image of everyone’s favorite mollusk, the slug. Or not. (And what are your favorite insects, etc?)

At tail end of the afternoon, with the light fast disappearing, this slug was in a hurry to get home, or as much of a hurry as a slug can generate.

Maybe hard to believe, but its movements through the grass were as elegant as those of any animal I’ve seen.
Elegant Slug

9 Comments »

  • Denice said:

    He’s a cutie! Did you know slugs like cat food? I feed a stray, and they climbed into the bowl on a misty damp morning! I let them have it and washed the bowl later. Who knew?

  • Rick said:

    Our cats do not like to share, so the slugs might need to fend for themselves.

  • rowena said:

    I always admire everything that updates on my newsfeed, but for whatever reason I really like this slug. Now I’ll be looking at slugs in an entirely different way.

  • Rick said:

    Thanks, Rowena. I hope these images show something we might ignore in a new light.

  • Deborah Newton said:

    This is a very elegant Midwestern slug! Here in the New England mornings as I walk the dog, I see some big fat tough looking rubbery brown relatives of this graceful one! The tracks, all curlycue and roundabout like skaters markings, make you wonder if these big guys know where they are going!!!

  • Rick said:

    Curlycue and roundabout, nice turn of phrase, Deb.

  • William K. said:

    When I was stationed in Germany, I saw bright red slugs on the ground something like five to six inches long. I saw some brown ones in Denmark about the same size. I wonder if they change color as they mature, or if they were different species.

  • Rick said:

    I would think they were different species, there are many kinds of land slugs. This one was about an inch long.

  • Deborah Newton said:

    The brown slugs in Providence RI can be 3-4″ long and as thick as your thumb around the midsection! The tracks they leave on the sidewalks are shiny silver slime.

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