Infected Slugs: Case #10

This case does not correspond with any other observations, for it appears that the slug has a mutation of its mantle or skin that may not be due to parasitic infection. Nevertheless, I'm grouping it with the others because the anomaly does resemble a parasitic growth in terms of its shape and location. I've just never seen one that had such a thick covering, as if it had growth there naturally. The slug's mantle is definitely warped, though. The neck isn't covered at all and bulges a bit. You can see that the slug has left quite a lot of mucus behind, but since these photos were taken during a period when mating was widespread, that doesn't necessarily indicate infection. I wish I had investigated this slug further, but I hadn't encountered definitive evidence of parasites yet and so didn't know what to look for.

The slime pool to the right was left by a mating couple.

I wonder if that tiny particle on the "growth" is an external manifestation of parasites? But it could be simply something the slug picked up while crawling.

The mucus that I'm associating with this slug is at the bottom of the photo, down from the tail. You can see it off to the left in the first photos. It's hard to tell whether the slime was left by a mating couple or not. Perhaps even this slug mated not long before I came on the scene.