Colin PurringtonAsh-black slug (Limax cinereoniger). Easily the largest slug I've ever seen but I gather they get much bigger, maxing out near 30 cm. Ravenna Gorge, Breitnau, Germany. #slug #gastropod #limacidae #nature #schnegel
Steve Wang@colinpurrington
30 cm -- wow!
@SteveWang251 A foot-long slug seems excessive.
Giles Goat@colinpurrington AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH ! .. sorry .. Slugs are maybe my BIGGEST PHOBIA !! 😱 😱 I go "insane" if I see one ! What makes me super nuts is I read about those stories of people dying getting weird neurotoxins by touching slugs ( or worse eating them ) !
Garden Variety Linguist@gilesgoat @colinpurrington
Pictures aren't really a problem for me, but slugs, & to a lesser degree worms, really creep me out. Small slugs are almost worse because they're harder to see from a distance, & of course they can also damage vegetables! Worms are beneficial to the soil, & generally prefer to stay hidden underground, so are more tolerable in general.
I didn't know about the neurotoxins, now I find slugs even more repulsive (but also slightly more impressive as well, lol)!
@gardenvarietylinguist @colinpurrington
So the story about slugs is that they have some endemic sort of lungworm/bacteria/can't remember what .. that if someway I think manages to enter your blood stream and/or you ingest it ( some people ate slugs for STUPID bets ) IIRC the story goes the thing dies inside our body because it cannot replicate however in doing so releases a powerful neurotoxin that may lead to permanent paralysis even death and THERE IS NO CURE/ANTIDOTE !
So the story about slugs is that they have some endemic sort of lungworm/bacteria/can't remember what .. that if someway I think manages to enter your blood stream and/or you ingest it ( some people ate slugs for STUPID bets ) IIRC the story goes the thing dies inside our body because it cannot replicate however in doing so releases a powerful neurotoxin that may lead to permanent paralysis even death and THERE IS NO CURE/ANTIDOTE !
@gilesgoat @colinpurrington
Slugs that carry worms - my worst nightmare! What a tragic story. Of course it happened in Australia, land of the world's deadliest creatures. & it's not surprising that alcohol & young men were involved, although it seems like they weren't drunk at the time, since they were trying to act like adults. Still, good to know about, thanks for sharing.
Slugs that carry worms - my worst nightmare! What a tragic story. Of course it happened in Australia, land of the world's deadliest creatures. & it's not surprising that alcohol & young men were involved, although it seems like they weren't drunk at the time, since they were trying to act like adults. Still, good to know about, thanks for sharing.
@gardenvarietylinguist @gilesgoat "Food preparation prior to cooking can leave debris from which infection can also occur. It may be possible to become infected by consuming snail/slug slime (mucus) on produce or by transferring mucus from hands to mouth after handling snails/slugs."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689478/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689478/
Pathways for Transmission of Angiostrongyliasis and the Risk of Disease Associated with Them
Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the rat lungworm, is a major cause of eosinophilic meningitis in humans. This short paper reviews what is known about the pathways of infection and assesses the probable importance of each in causing disease. Rats are the ...
@gardenvarietylinguist I slipped on a slug during my undergraduate days at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Was barefoot at the time and will never forget that experience.
neville park@colinpurrington @gardenvarietylinguist the noise i made upon reading this was so high it was mostly inaudible to human ears
@nev @gardenvarietylinguist I think I heard it.
Save Bees@colinpurrington Oh, everyone does that at Reed, right?! (I didn’t know you were a Reedie too!)
@savebees Class of '88! You?
@colinpurrington ‘99 Philosophy! It’s been awhile but it’s still lovely to go back to campus every long once in a while and meander through the canyon 🌱🪰🐛🕷️🕸️
Celeste Ramsay@savebees @colinpurrington In between each of you, '94. Still wander the canyon when I get a chance, too.