Interesting small slug.

basin79

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I for this small slug earlier and was surprised to find it was transparent. I've never seen a transparent slug before. It had a few tiny mites running around it.

 

The wolf

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I'm currently raising a few little slugs from eggs I found and they look similar but no where near as transparent
 

schmiggle

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Very interesting. I bet it's because of how young it is--tiny earthworms are also transparent.
 

The wolf

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Those mites are common on molluscs and not harmful and if you watch they occasionally nip in and out of the respitory system
 

basin79

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Those mites are common on molluscs and not harmful and if you watch they occasionally nip in and out of the respitory system
I've seen them on slugs before but wasn't sure if they where harmful or not. They're so bloody fast.
 

Salmonsaladsandwich

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I think this is a marsh slug, Deroceras laeve. Interestingly this species is believed to be native to both Europe and North America, while most other slugs species in NA (outside the pacific northwest) were introduced from Europe via human activity.

Marsh slugs seem to have much thinner, less sticky slime than most slugs, so some predators that don't normally eat slugs seem to enjoy them. They might be something interesting to try breeding as feeders.
 

The wolf

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I think this is a marsh slug, Deroceras laeve. Interestingly this species is believed to be native to both Europe and North America, while most other slugs species in NA (outside the pacific northwest) were introduced from Europe via human activity.

Marsh slugs seem to have much thinner, less sticky slime than most slugs, so some predators that don't normally eat slugs seem to enjoy them. They might be something interesting to try breeding as feeders.
Could this be due to natural distribution by birds or other insects I would be interested to find out
They seem like they could be perfect for beetles like ocypus olens or pterostichus
 
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