banana slug

Species within the genus Ariolimax include:

Synonyms:

File:2022-06-13, Banana Slug in Motion (Beaver Lake Park, Sammamish, Washington), video1.webm

• Ariolimax andersonii J. G. Cooper, 1872: synonym of Prophysaon andersonii (J.G. Cooper, 1872) (unaccepted combination)
• Ariolimax californicus J.G. Cooper, 1872: synonym of Ariolimax californicus J.G. Cooper, 1872
• Ariolimax californicus costaricensis Cockerell, 1890: synonym of Deroceras costaricensis (Cockerell, 1890)
• Ariolimax hemphilli W. G. Binney, 1875: synonym of Hesperarion hemphilli (W.G. Binney, 1875)
• Ariolimax niger J. G. Cooper, 1872: synonym of Hesperarion niger (J. G. Cooper, 1872)
• Ariolimax steindachneri Babor, 1900: synonym of Ariolimax columbianus (Gould, 1851)

File:Banana slug closeup.jpg

File:Slender banana slug (Ariolimax dolichophallus) and Dandelion Seed.jpg

Banana slugs are often bright yellow (giving rise to the banana nomenclature) although they may also be greenish, brown, tan, or white. The species Ariolimax columbianus sometimes has black spots that are so extensive that the animal looks almost entirely black. Individual slugs can change colors with alterations in diet, light exposure, and moisture levels. Color may also be an indicator of the age or health status of an individual.{{cite book|last=Harper|first=Alice Bryant|title=The Banana Slug: A Close Look at a Giant Forest Slug of Western North America|date=1988|publisher=Bay LeavesPress|location=Aptos, CA|isbn=0962121800}}

The Pacific banana slug is the second-largest species of terrestrial slug in the world, achieving a length of up to {{convert|25|cm|in}}{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=K.|title=Ariolimax columbianus|work=Animal Diversity Web|publisher=University of Michigan Museum of Zoology|year=2000|url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Ariolimax_columbianus.html|access-date=May 19, 2009}} and a weight of up to {{convert|115|g|oz|abbr=off}}.{{Cite web|url=http://spiralbound.net/2009/05/01/the-banana-slug-is-not-a-mythical-creature|title=The Banana Slug is not a Mythical Creature {{!}} spiralbound.net|access-date=2010-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615164325/http://spiralbound.net/2009/05/01/the-banana-slug-is-not-a-mythical-creature|archive-date=2010-06-15|url-status=dead }} The largest slug species is Limax cinereoniger, which can reach {{convert|30|cm|in}} in length. Banana slugs have an average lifespan of 1–7 years.

Banana slugs (like other gastropods and many other mollusks) have a radula, a ribbon-like anatomical structure covered in rows of microscopic teeth. The radula is used for feeding.{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutslugs.com/slug-and-snail-science/slug-anatomy/|title=All About Slugs - Anatomy}} Individuals can move at {{convert|6+1/2|in|cm}} per minute.{{cite web|url=http://oregonstate.edu/Dept/nurspest/slugs.htm|title=Slugs|website=oregonstate.edu}}

Slugs use two pairs of tentacles to sense their environment. The longer, upper pair are used to detect light or movement. The shorter, lower pair are used to detect chemicals. Both pairs of tentacles are muscular hydrostats which can be fully retracted when necessary to avoid damage. If the animal loses a tentacle, the slug can grow a new one.{{Cite web|url=http://www.slugwatch.co.uk/?page_id=13|title=All About Slugs {{!}} SlugWatch|access-date=2019-01-03}}

Banana slugs have a single pallial lung which opens externally via a pneumostome on the right side of the mantle of the animal. The pneumostome lung cavity is heavily vascularized to allow gas exchange. Dehydration is a major problem for the mollusk; to combat this, banana slugs excrete a thick coating of mucus around their bodies and can also aestivate. To do so, they secrete a protective layer of mucus and insulate themselves with a layer of soil and leaves. They remain inactive in this state until the environment becomes moist again. Due to their susceptibility to desiccation, they are more commonly active at night, but also appear during cool, moist days.{{cite web|url=https://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/exhibits/terrestrial-panel/banana-slug/|title=Banana Slug |website=University of Puget Sound }}

File:Ariolimax columbianus 0510.JPG

The slime also contains pheromones to attract other slugs for mating. Slugs are simultaneous hermaphrodites,{{cite web |title=Banana slug |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/banana-slug |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405030407/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/banana-slug |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 5, 2021 |website=National Geographic |publisher=National Geographic |access-date=30 September 2023 |language=en |date=30 September 2023}} and reproduce by exchanging sperm with their mate. They produce up to 75 translucent eggs, which are laid in a log or on leaves. Slugs mate and lay eggs throughout the year. The adults provide no further care for their eggs beyond finding a suitable hiding spot, and the eggs are abandoned as soon as the clutch is laid.{{Cite web |last=Dolkas |first=Matt |date=2021-02-03 |title=The Romantic Lives of Banana Slugs |url=https://openspacetrust.org/blog/banana-slug/ |website=Peninsula Open Space Trust}}

Ariolimax columbianus is native to the forest floors along North America's Pacific coastal coniferous rainforest belt (including douglas-fir forests and redwood forests) which stretches from Southeastern Alaska to Santa Cruz, California.

Several discontinuous populations also occur in forested slopes of the coastal and transverse mountain ranges south of Santa Cruz as far south as Ventura County, with a tiny, isolated population located in Palomar Mountain State Park within the Palomar Mountain Range in San Diego County, California. The Palomar Mountains have lush Sierra Nevada-like coniferous forests and black oak woodlands unlike the surrounding semiarid lands of inland San Diego County and mark the southernmost population of banana slugs.

Small, isolated populations also occur east of the Pacific Coast such as in the inland coniferous rainforests of British Columbia's Columbia Mountains (interior wet-belt), just west of the Canadian Rockies, and have been seen at lower elevations near creeks and damp areas of Mount Revelstoke National Park. Small populations of banana slugs have also been seen along creek and damp areas of the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the north of Yosemite National Park in California. Slug densities in these outlying areas in the Columbia Mountains, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and areas south of Santa Cruz are low compared to densities in the coastal coniferous rainforest belt and are rather restricted to damp areas near creeks, ravines, and gullies.Banana Slugs by the Project Noah Nature School https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/12002129 This population may also be a relic from the Pleistocene epoch.

File:Banana Slug Eating.jpeg]]

Banana slugs are detritivores, or decomposers. They consume leaves, animal droppings, moss, and dead plant material, and then recycle them into soil humus.{{Cite web |title=Banana Slug - Ariolimax columbianus - |url=https://wildernessclassroom.org/wilderness-library/banana-slug/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=wildernessclassroom.org}}{{Cite web|date=2019-12-19|title=Banana slug, facts and photos |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/banana-slug|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405030407/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/banana-slug |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 5, 2021|access-date=2023-10-25|website=Animals}} They are generalist feeders, though they exhibit a preference for certain mushrooms.{{Cite web|title=Banana Slug {{!}} University of Puget Sound|url=https://www.pugetsound.edu/puget-sound-museum-natural-history/exhibits/terrestrial-panel/banana-slug|access-date=2023-10-25|website=www.pugetsound.edu}} Through their consumption of various plant matter and animal excretion, banana slugs acts as agents of seed dispersal.{{Cite journal|last1=Gervais|first1=Jennifer A.|last2=Traveset|first2=Anna|last3=Willson|first3=Mary F.|date=1998|title=The Potential for Seed Dispersal by the Banana Slug (Ariolimax columbianus)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2426993 |journal=The American Midland Naturalist |volume=140 |issue=1 |pages=103–110 |doi=10.1674/0003-0031(1998)140[0103:TPFSDB]2.0.CO;2 |jstor=2426993 |s2cid=86216776}} They spread seeds and spores, and excrete a nitrogen-rich fertilizer.{{Cite web|date=2015-02-17|title=Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime|url=https://www.kqed.org/science/27260/banana-slugs-secret-of-the-slime |access-date=2023-10-25|website=KQED}} Additionally, by consuming dead organic matter, they contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cyclesWetzel, R. G. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. Academic Press. 2001. 3rd. p.700. and are an important aspect of the ecosystem.

Small mammals, snakes, and salamanders sometimes eat banana slugs.{{Cite web |title=Licking a Banana Slug Will Make Your Tongue Go Numb|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/student-contributors-environment-did-you-know/licking-banana-slug-will-make-your-tongue-go-numb|access-date=2023-10-25|website=Office for Science and Society}}

The mucus secreted by banana slugs contains chemicals that can numb the tongue of predators.{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Leslie Carol |date=2013-08-01 |title=On Slug Trails |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.14321/fourthgenre.15.2.0143 |journal=Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction |language=en |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=143–152 |doi=10.14321/fourthgenre.15.2.0143 |issn=1522-3868}} This mucus can absorb up to 100 times its volume in water.{{Cite web |last=Ellis |first=Michael |title=Why are Banana Slugs so Slimy? - |url=https://baynature.org/article/why-are-banana-slugs-so-slimy/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Bay Nature |language=en-US}} Technically, this slime is neither liquid nor solid, but rather a liquid crystal substance.{{cite web|url=https://www.kqed.org/science/27260/banana-slugs-secret-of-the-slime|title=Banana Slugs: Secret of the Slime|date=17 February 2015|website=kqed.org}} Slug slime bears a resemblance to human mucus, primarily composed of proteins known as mucins.{{Cite web |date=2016-11-27 |title=Science Spotlight: Banana Slug Slime |url=https://hilltromper.com/article/science-spotlight-banana-slug-slime |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Santa Cruz |language=en}} Upon contact with environmental moisture, dry mucin granules swell dramatically, expanding to hundreds of times their original volume.{{Cite web |last=McQuate |first=Sarah |title=He Slimed Me! |url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/he-slimed-me/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Scientific American Blog Network |language=en}} This expansion contributes to the slimy texture but does not involve the numbing effect seen in banana slugs. Moreover, the slime serves the purpose of maintaining moisture on the skin of these slug-like creatures, akin to fruit, which facilitates gas exchange to support respiration. The glycoprotein-based mucous behaves as a liquid crystal, occupying a unique state between a solid and a liquid. Its molecular dispersion prevents it from being a true liquid, yet it lacks the compactness of a solid, displaying an organized, crystal-like pattern.

This mucous secretion serves a multitude of purposes in the life of a banana slug. It aids in locomotion, allowing them to glide gracefully across the forest floor. The slime also serves as a protective barrier, acting as a deterrent against potential predators and pathogens. Additionally, banana slug slime plays a role in reproduction, as slugs deposit chemical cues within the slime to attract potential mates. The slime's vivid yellow color, which is responsible for their common name, not only adds to their eccentric appearance but also acts as a warning signal to potential predators that it may not be a tasty meal. Banana slug mucus has potential to carry mites and other parasitic organisms.{{Cite web |date=2020-09-27 |title=The Fascinating World Of the Banana Slug with Dr. Janet Leonard Recording |url=https://www.coastsidelandtrust.org/our-blog/2020/9/27/the-fascinating-world-of-the-banana-slug-with-dr-janet-leonard-recording |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Coastside Land Trust |language=en-US}}

File:Two Banana Slugs.jpg

Banana slugs are hermaphroditic, possessing both male and female reproductive organs. This feature allows them to mate as either sex or even fertilize themselves.{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Terry Tom |date=2012-11-18 |title=Love and other animals: the banana slug |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/nov/18/banana-slug |access-date=2023-10-25 |issn=0261-3077}} The versatile slime also plays a role in their mating rituals. During the mating phase, banana slugs release pheromones through their adhesive trails to attract potential partners.{{Cite web |title=Licking a Banana Slug Will Make Your Tongue Go Numb |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/student-contributors-environment-did-you-know/licking-banana-slug-will-make-your-tongue-go-numb |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Office for Science and Society |language=en}} Due to a slug's ability for self-fertilization, there is a high degree of homozygosity. Notably, their courtship process can be quite robust and, in certain species, may culminate in apophallation.{{Cite journal |last=Reise |first=H |date=2002-04-01 |title=Penis-biting slugs: wild claims and confusions |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02453-9 |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=163 |doi=10.1016/s0169-5347(02)02453-9 |bibcode=2002TEcoE..17..163R |issn=0169-5347}} During the mating ritual between two slugs, they both engage in a dance-like action where they will circle each other, occasionally lunging, nipping, and tail whipping.{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=David George |title=Western Society of Malacologists: Field Guide to the Slug |publisher=Sasquatch Books |year=1994 |isbn=1-57061-011-8}}  University of California, Santa Cruz research associate Janet Leonard notes that apophallation occurs some time after copulation, and the process of chewing takes around 45 minutes, but can take longer.  After mating, the slugs separate and seek a sheltered location to lay their eggs. An impregnated slug will typically lay a range of 3 to 50 eggs in a small crevice. These eggs will typically hatch within a month or two, and the young slugs will mature over several months. Their offspring will typically contain a pale white hue and as they grow acquire their distinct yellow color.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Banana slugs have been used as food by Yurok Natives of the North Coast and by German immigrants in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A yearly festival and contest is held at Russian River including slug races and a contest for recipes{{snd}}though, even when fed corn meal to purge them or soaked in vinegar to remove slime, the slugs' flavor is not always well regarded for the modern palate, and the most successful entries are often those in which the flavor is unnoticeable.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/22/us/russian-river-journal-courage-is-an-ingredient-at-banana-slug-festival.html|last=Gross|first=Jane|title=Russian River Journal; Courage Is an Ingredient At Banana Slug Festival|work=New York Times|date=1989-03-22}}{{cite web|last=Janiskee|first=Bob|url=http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2010/03/creature-feature-banana-slug-living-proof-slimy-little-gastropod-mollusk-can-be-loaded-charisma5558|title=Creature Feature: The Banana Slug is Living Proof that a Slimy Little Gastropod Mollusk Can be Loaded with Charisma|work=National Parks Traveler|date=2010-03-22}}

The banana slug (specifically Ariolimax dolichophallus, which is the most common banana slug on campus) is the mascot of the University of California, Santa Cruz. It is common in local forests, was approved by a student vote,{{Citation needed|date=December 2023|reason=Unclear what specific awards have been won by the mascot, and additionally, a citation is missing for the species identification of the mascot/the banana slugs frequently found on the UCSC campus as Ariolimax dolichophallus.}} and was named the best college mascot by Reader's Digest in 2004.{{Cite web |title=Awards and Honors, 05-17-04 |url=https://currents.ucsc.edu/03-04/05-17/awards.html |access-date=2024-04-23 |website=currents.ucsc.edu}} The Every Little Thing podcast also dedicated half an episode to discussing the banana slug and its historical relevance to the UCSC.{{Cite web |title=Dewey Decimal Drama {{!}} Every Little Thing |url=https://gimletmedia.com/shows/every-little-thing/76h58j |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Gimlet |language=en}} After celebrating 25 years of the establishment of the banana slug as UCSC's mascot, on September 27, 2011, the Santa Cruz City Council declared that day as the official "Day of the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug."{{Cite web |title=Our Mascot: Sammy the Banana Slug – UC Santa Cruz |url=https://www.ucsc.edu/campus/mascot/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |language=en-US}} One T-shirt caption was: "No known predators!".{{cite web|author=UC Santa Cruz Menu |url=http://www.ucsc.edu/about/mascot.html |title=Banana Slug Mascot |publisher=University of California, Santa Cruz |access-date=2017-08-26}}

On September 27, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1850, making the banana slug the official state slug of California.{{cite web|url=https://fastdemocracy.com/bill-search/ca/2023-2024/bills/CAB00030934/|title=AB 1850|work=FastDemocracy|access-date=2025-01-15}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/10/13/the-beloved-banana-slug-becomes-californias-official-state-slug-2/|last=Aksenfeld|first=Rita|title=The beloved banana slug becomes California’s official state slug|work=Mercury News|date=2024-10-13}}

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• {{citation|last=Schad|first=Jerry|title=Afoot & Afield in San Diego County |publisher=Wilderness Press |year=1998}}

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Category:Ariolimacidae

Category:Endemic fauna of North America

Category:Molluscs of North America

Category:Pre-Columbian California cuisine