The detached head of a sea slug (Elysia cf. marginata) glides by its still-living, leaf-shaped body a day after separation. That body, around 80 percent of the animal's weight, is out of luck. It's the head that survives, growing a new body.
Two species of sea slug, Elysia marginata and Elysia atroviridis, decapitate themselves — only to regrow a new body from the severed head. Researchers were astonished to observe slugs in captivity cutting off their own heads after their bodies became infected with parasites.
In most animals and even some sea slugs, autotomy is thought to serve only as a means of avoiding predation. But the researchers found evidence that it can also be used to expel internal parasites. All of the Elysia atroviridis that separated their heads had internal parasites, according to the researchers.
Algae. Japanese researchers find some sea slugs can survive decapitation. They believe they developed the ability by eating algae.
So basically, the sea slug is reproductively pretty much dead. SIMON: So when they realize their bodies might be just too parasitic for reproduction, the slugs shed them and grow new bodies, parasite-free.
What's new — Scientists from Nara Women's University in Japan discovered two types of sea slugs — Elysia cf. marginata and Elysia atroviridis — are capable of regenerating themselves after voluntarily shedding their original body. The researchers define the process of shedding one's own body part as autotomy.
Two species of sacoglossan sea slugs studied at Nara Women's University in Japan were seen with detached heads living independently of their voluntarily-shed bodies.
Snails may have opioid responses and mussels release morphine when confronted with noxious stimuli. Both reactions suggest that these animals do, in fact, feel pain. While mollusks don't have brains per se, they do exhibit some nervous system centralization. They have several pairs of ganglia connected to a nerve cord.
Touching a slug will not be dangerous to humans, but caution should be taken to wash your hands as they can carry parasites. While slugs may appear harmless and can be touched, they carry many parasites. However, not all slugs will be infected. However, if you touch an infected slug, it can pass parasites on to you.
Don't eat raw or undercooked snails or slugs, frogs or shrimp/prawns. If you handle snails or slugs, wear gloves and wash your hands. Always remember to thoroughly wash fresh produce.
Near their mouthparts, hydra have a cluster of 50 to 300 cells called the head organizer; as its name implies, it directs the development of the head. If a hydra is beheaded, a new organizer can form and prompt the animal to regrow its head.
THE SLUG has a moist skin, so when you sprinkle salt on to it a strong brine quickly forms. The process of osmosis then begins, by which water is drawn from a weak solution (in this case the body fluid of the slug) into a stronger one. Result: the slug dies a lingering death by dehydration.
Within a week, they had regenerated their heart, and after three weeks they had regenerated an entirely new body. One slug even decapitated itself and grew a new body twice. As for the slugs' discarded bodies? They survived, too, and some were able to move around on their own for months.
Establishing skin contact with the slug is no worry, but ingesting an infected slug is a different story. If a human ate one of these infectious slugs, the parasites would travel into the brain and spinal cord, causing tissue damage and possibly leading to a type of meningitis called eosinophilic meningitis.
Note that slugs do not regenerate from each half when cut through. That is worth remembering when you encounter the adults while doing other chores; just snip them, stomp them, smash them; anything to separate head from tail.
Your typical garden slug is nontoxic, so you have nothing to worry about. They eat mostly fungi, decaying plant matter and plants, and there is no direct way they can cause harm to humans.
Slugs can withstand brief periods of immersion under water, although they drown after several hours. Birds (up to 6 per cent of the diet of starlings), ducks, moles, toads, shrews and carnivorous ground beetles, rove beetles, and firefly beetles feed on slugs.
Pouring salt on a slug will kill it in a matter of seconds, however, it generally takes quite a bit of salt to do so. The salt kills the slug through osmosis – it draws water from inside the slug and rapidly dehydrates it.
It takes about a year for slugs to mature into adults, which can live for about two years. Slugs can be serious garden pests, eating seedlings, plants and fruit and vegetable crops.
Slugs don't scream or cry out, but they do have pain receptors like most other creatures. Therefore, the act of desiccating their entire body from the inside out like a batch of soggy french fries is not exactly the most humane way of dealing with them.
Salt: A Cruel Death
If you sprinkle slugs and snails with salt, it will bind their body fluids and their bodies will dissolve slowly. This is perhaps the most unpleasant way to kill them. Nevertheless, many gardeners still use salt in their gardens.
Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs. Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia.
Slug blood is green. Really. There is a fascinating article about the reasons why many invertebrates have green blood here. Slugs can live for about 6 years, but their eggs can lie dormant for years before hatching when conditions are right.
Snails and slugs eat with a jaw and a flexible band of thousands of microscopic teeth, called a radula. The radula scrapes up, or rasps, food particles and the jaw cuts off larger pieces of food, like a leaf, to be rasped by the radula.
slug eyes come in the form of eyespots at the end of retractable optical tentacles. Though they can't define color or shape, they are light-sensitive, can grow back if damaged, and have the multi-tasking ability to detect smell.