mollusca
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Eggs & Memories
Slug eggs! I think. Quite small. I didn’t notice them at first, as I was photographing this beetle under a log. Some beetles are shy. Only later did I see the spheres in the photograph. I’ve been delving into the archives to see what else has turned up in early Aprils past: 2018: Brooklyn Kestrels!…
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Slug in the Greens
In the Japanese turnip greens, purchased in Brooklyn but sourced in Lancaster PA. Perhaps one of the threeband slugs of the genus Amibigolimax. Sautéed the greens after a good washing, with some lettuce, garlic, and hot pepper flakes. The turnips themselves, which are quite small, were peeled and chopped up for a bean salad.
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Sinister Snails
Little freshwater mollusks in the Physa genus, according to the iNaturalist community. The aperture is on the left side, hence sinistral. In the Sylvan Water. How did they get here? Did they arrive via muddy duck feet, a noted transportation system for plants and animals?Less than a centimeter long, with some smaller. To the nearly…
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Marine Park
Hot and fecund summer comes at you and doesn’t let up. My camera bursts with photos after a walk, an exploration, an adventure. Time barrels along, even though the humidity seems to want to slow it down. These are all from a trip three weeks ago to Marine Park on Brooklyn’s southern edge.A nice little…
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You can see the slugs and the trees
A brief trip to some of the wet rainforests of the northwest was a revelation. There will be more to come, but shall we begin with an atypical sublimity?Banana slug, Ariolimax genus,perhaps A. columbianus, Pacific Banana Slug? There are two other species, and differentiating them sounds a bit gross. About 4″ long.These are named for…
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Great Wall Addendum
Leopard Slugs (Limax maximus). An introduced species, thinking about making more of themselves. And what a process that is!
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Spring Cleaning Snails
Three different specimens of our old friend Cepaea nemoralis.The snail’s “foot,” which gave rise to the name for this whole class of Molluscs, Gastropoda, which means simply stomach-foot (and is anatomically incorrect; the stomach is in the portion of the animal that is inside the shell).Just a size comparison with some other snails found during…
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Accidental Habitat
These pontoon-like things were flipped over between Piers 5 & 6 recently, revealing the:barnacles andblue mussels that have found them to be a worthy foundation.
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Chiton
Even though we have at least one species of chiton, or coat-of-mail shell, in our northeastern waters, I’ve never come across one. The eight plates, or valves, that make up the shell usually break apart and scatter to the waves. This one was actually in a pile of shells placed as decoration in the villa…
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Ribbed Mussels
The Atlantic ribbed mussel, Geukensia demissa, at low tide at Calvert Vaux Park. Unlike the more famous (because delicious) blue mussel, Mytilus edulis, the ribbed mussel, which is found up and down the East Coast, prefers brackish waters. They are a keystone species for salt marsh habitat and vital to Jamaica Bay. Establishing beds within…
Backyard and Beyond 