texified

Here’s a little fellow that I found the other day while pruning my Rhododendron beside my driveway.  It is the Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus) which is said to be the second largest slug in the world.  They are usually the color that you see here  up here in the Northwest…also often an olive yellow, sometimes spotted and dark.   I have seen bright yellow ones in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, although some say that is probably a different species. 

          Apparently there are three species in this particular genus:  A. columbianus (Pacific Banana Slug), A. californicus (California Banana Slug), and A. dolichophallus (Slender Banana Slug, I refuse to repeat the obvious typo/exaggeration concerning A. dolichophallus).    I was unable to determine the basis for dividing these banana slugs into different species, except coloration and other minor differences.  Based on the extreme variation in the color of the Pacific Banana Slug, I would hope that there are other more definitive differences.   Otherwise one might think that they are simply geographic races or subspecies.

     I was searching for recipes for this fella (wrong gender?  They’re hermaphroditic!) and came across this site in which a contributor says that they were mildly toxic and that their mucous was irritating.  Another comment said that the native americans used them to numb tooth aches.  Another commenter on this site said that the numbing power of these slugs was enough to knock Giant Pacific Salamanders unconscious if they tried to eat them.

     Now I must comment on the salamander claim… I photographed one of these Giant Pacific Salamanders (Dicamptodon tenebrosus; dangit, they changed the name again! *$%# taxonomic splitters) once that was munching contentedly on one of these banana slugs with no apparent ill effects.

     Perhaps I should run a taste test to see if any of these stories are true.

Here is a way to make slugs more appetizing if you are cooking them (quoted from here):

Tim Pearce, a mollusk specialist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pa., has this tip for people hoping to enhance a slug’s culinary appeal:

“An easy way to remove the slime before cooking is to put the live slugs into 50 percent vinegar and 50 percent water. The solution is fatal to the slugs in a few minutes, and in the process, they exude most of their slime. Also when boiling them, change the water after a minute or two to remove further slime. One recipe advocates adding a bay leaf to the cooking water to improve the smell.”Land slugs often harbor parasites and should not be eaten raw, Pearce added.