Pacific Banana Slug-9.jpg
Banana slugs are highly variable in appearance, but most tend to be either a solid light to bright yellow (hence the name banana slug) or yellow with brown spots. Sometimes brown, green or even white ones are seen, and color can often an indicator of the slug's age, health, how moist or dry it is, or even can be a clue as to what it's been eating. The body structure of the banana slug is very simple. It has a "foot" that is used for locomotion in the same way terrestrial or aquatic snails move about. The "hump" part of the back is called the mantle, and has an opening on its right called a pneumostome that is a simple airway for the single lung that it uses for respiration. Their entire body is covered in a thick slime helps it retain moisture and aids in "sliding" through the forest. This one was found in a disturbed suburban park in Kent, Washington.
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- ©2015
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- Keywords
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America, Animalia, Ariolimacidae, Ariolimacinae, Ariolimax, Ariolimax californicus, Ariolimax columbianus, Ariolimax dolichophallus, Arionoidea, Eupulmonata, Euthyneura, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Kent, King County, Mill Creek, Mollusca, PNW, Pacific Banana Slug, Pacific NW, Pacific Northwest, Panpulmonata, Sigmurethra, Stylommatophora, USA, United States, Washington, animal, banana slug, biology, brown, bug, close, close up, closeup, cochlea, crawling, creature, creep, creepy, critter, detail, dirty, fauna, forest, gastropod, gross, head, icky, invertebrate, land slug, mollusc, mollusk, mottled, natural, nature, organism, sliding, slime, slimy, slow, slug, sluggish, snail, spots, spotted, wild, wildlife, winter, woods
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