Saturday, August 26.

The weekend cometh. As does the season of autumn, where things take a turn for the chilly, the damp, the Earthy in palette.

There is one shelled gastropod that is particularly fond of these weeks, and it is the humble #snail. Well, be humble no more, friend, because this weekend is your weekend. To celebrate you and everything you do.

I guess I'm a bit late to the party, I'm slow like these guys I guess.

I've been wondering all day why there were so many snail posts and I've just worked out that today it their day here!

I will share my snail drawings here with you tonight. Sorry, but these have all been sold, but I thought I'd let you see them anyway.

someme critters I doodled In class a while ago

CENTÁ

Judge?? Old man??

Here he is in all his scaly glory!!

Send me an ask and I'll draw a Mer-attorney!

giant african land snails | source

Earshell Slug (Testacella haliotidea)

Family: Testacella Family (Testacellidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

All slugs are believed to have descended from shelled snail-like ancestors, and are thought to have lost their tough external shells in exchange for greater manoeuvrability and flexibility. However, a handful of species of slugs still retain small external shells, and the Earshell Slug (which possesses a tiny abalone-shaped shell on the "tail tip" at the end of its body) is one such species. That being said, it is unclear what purpose, if any, such a tiny shell serves; it is plausible that it is a vestigial characteristic that has no function, although it has been suggested that it may serve some purpose in allowing the slug to retain moisture when exposed to sunlight, or that it may provide some minor protection from predators (notably, when threatened Earshell Slugs will retract their tentacles and "curl" their large bodies up into a small compact oval, in which state they may be slightly better protected.) Native to much of western Europe and also present in New Zealand, Australia and North America as an invasive species, Earshell Slugs are believed to be fairly common throughout their range but are very rarely seen due to their unusual lifestyle; they are specialised predators that feed exclusively on earthworms, and as such spend the vast majority of their lives underground or amongst dense leaf litter searching for prey, coming to the surface only when soil compaction caused by heavy rain forces them to do so. While the subterranean lifestyle of this species means that much of its lifecycle is a mystery, it is known that (like most terrestrial gastropods,) members of this species are hermaphrodites (producing both sperm and ova,) and based on the anatomy of their reproductive organs it is possible that they are able to reproduce asexually by fertilizing their own eggs.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/232389-Testacella-haliotidea

Found what I think is a live banded tulip shell in one of the tide pools!!! Silly little guy!!!!!

Photos 1-2 - Gastropoda sp.

Photos 3-4 - Fasciolariidae sp.

Photos 5-6 - Terebridae sp.

Photos 7-8 - Neverita didyma

Photos 9-10 - Duplicaria bernardii

More shells washed up on the shores of Woppa.

13/09/23 - Gastropoda spp.

QLD:CQC, Woppa (Great Keppel island), ocean shore

friend asked for a buff snail . p sure they dont have muscles but what the fuck do i know

It's already shaping up to be a good vacation :)

I guess I'm a bit late to the party, I'm slow like these guys I guess.

I've been wondering all day why there were so many snail posts and I've just worked out that today it their day here!

I will share my snail drawings here with you tonight. Sorry, but these have all been sold, but I thought I'd let you see them anyway.

Snail shell on the Duckabush River trail 🐌

A new discovery of the bioluminescent terrestrial snail genus Phuphania (Gastropoda: Dyakiidae)

Published 13th September 2023

Researchers discover bioluminescence in Phuphania crossei, Phuphania globosa, Phuphania carinata and Phuphania costata.

Juveniles(A) and adults(B,C) of Phuphania crossei in natural light and in the dark

Adult of Phuphania globosa in natural light and in the dark

Juveniles of Phuphania costata in natural light and in the dark

Juvenile of Phuphania carinata in natural light and in the dark

source:

Doodledex - #705-A Hisuian Sliggoo

While there's no outward change to the Goomy that lived in Hisui, the same can't be said for their evolution! Thanks to exposure to high concentrations of iron in the water there, Hisuian Sliggoo are Steel/Dragon types and have developed a large, round, metallic shell! (And yeah, this technically makes them snails instead of slugs.)

However, unlike normal snails that only keep their organs in their shell, Hisuian Sliggoo holes its entire body up in there, with only its head and arms sticking out! It seems like this would make it awkward to move around... but when it needs to go fast it will retract all the way into its shell, stand itself up on its side and roll away!

Alternative Mermay #21: Conch with legs