I met some relatives of my beloved leatherleaf slugs in the mangroves of Singapore, the onch slugs! they’re perhaps some of the slowest-moving animals I’ve ever encountered; this is one in a hurry:
the species pictured is a Platevindex, which are particularly interesting to me since their backs are studded with extra eyes! the dorsal papillae each have a little black dot that’s a photoreceptor, which helps the slug detect changes in light exposure.
onchidiids are marine animals, living on costal rocks and in mangroves, but breathe air and spend much of their time out of the water. like the leatherleafs, they’ve got a dry, tough hide that maintains water balance, but Platevindex takes that to an extreme—when I picked one up, it felt like a vulcanized rubber tire!
Nell the bananer slug has buttery yellow, hand painted silk body. I saw these little guys for the first time in 2019 while on Orcas Island, and absolutely fell in love with these slimy babies 💛
I know you have your little umbreon/claydol sona you use to represent yourself occasionally, but I just keep envisioning you as some kind of conch snail delicately peeking it's eyestalks out cautiously, before throwing artwork on par with Italian Renaissance painters into the fucking wind
Hunterslugs are primarily predators, but will also occasionally eat plant matter. They have been recorded eating pill millipedes, snails, other arthropods, and soft-bodied invertebrates such as earthworms. The prey is subdued by injecting a toxin into its flesh. Found in South Africa.
Photo 1 by dherbert, 2-6 by alexanderr, 7-8 by dherbert, and 9-10 by ricky_taylor