Sunday, January 13, 2013

Marsh Slug Laying Eggs

Being a slug aficionado, you can imagine how ecstatic I was on turning over a bordering-brick one afternoon to discover a Marsh Slug (Deroceras laeve) RIGHT AFTER it had laid its eggs! In fact, it was still tending to them and I was able to get some awesome shots. Now, I'm not sure exactly what the slug was doing to the eggs, whether it was just sitting there, pressed up against them, or whether it was taking a parting nibble at the mucus-covered eggs. Anyway, it was amazing to see those eggs lined up in a row like that, like a string. The Three-band Slugs (Lehmannia valentiana) tend to lay their eggs in a cluster, though I haven't been able to determine if they arrange them that way on purpose.

Remember, a slug lays its eggs by expelling them one by one from its gonopore. Each egg receives a protective casing before being laid.

From this angle it looks as if the slug is nibbling on the eggs at bit. Hey, laying eggs makes you hungry!
I'm not sure if these eggs belong to this clutch or not. To the right of them you can see some feces, presumably from the slug.
I turned off my flash for the rest of the photos.

Now all I need to do is catch a slug in the act of laying eggs! Nevertheless, I'm happy to have gotten these photos, because hitherto I haven't been able to distinguish the eggs of our 2 different species. Perhaps I should look now for a string of eggs with respect to the Marsh Slugs?

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