Pacific Banana Slug

This interesting little guy gets its name from looking like a banana, shocking, right? They even have the brown spots that resemble an over-ripe (or if you're like me, the perfect) banana. They are found all along the Pacific coast of North America, from Alaska to California.

comments (12)

travismorhardt

Lion

Ariolimax columbianus
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Ariolimax_columbianus/ Posted 11 years ago

Sunil R Agadi

Lion

Nice colors & the name suits it. Posted 11 years ago

WildFlower

Lion

Someone has indicated that there is no species on this photo... I too have done that by accident before and Ferdy was able to fix it as long as there is an ID to replace it with. This ID has to be created first. Here's two other references:
http://idtools.org/id/mollusc/factsheet.php?name=Ariolimax%20columbianus
http://online.sfsu.edu/bholzman/courses/Fall00Projects/bananaslug.html Posted 11 years ago
1. travismorhardt
  
  Lion
  
  Hey, I hadn't even realized that, I must have accidentally done that. Thanks for the heads up! And thanks for the additional info, Wildflower! Posted 11 years ago

bpeters

Mountain Gorilla

This is a nice opportunity for me to try out the new interface to add species. The species is created and the photo has been tagged :) Posted 11 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  A species record very well created, very complete. I'm glad you did not seem to encounter any issues, as I just deployed a few fixes for manual species creation, but it was after your action. Posted 11 years ago
2. 1. WildFlower
    
    Lion
    
    Did you restore the link to species identification for this photo, because it was disabled last time I checked? Posted 11 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      No, I did not. Bas identified this one. If somebody identifies a photo as "not applicable", anybody is free to override that by simply identifying it anyway. The only purpose of "not applicable" is to hide the photo from the "unidentified" photo overview. Posted 11 years ago, modified 11 years ago
    2. 1. WildFlower
        
        Lion
        
        I can see who has identified it, but I am wondering how he did it. Unless I am missing something, when a photo is identified as species "not applicable" the "Identify species" link is no longer available to simply identify it anyway. Posted 11 years ago
    3. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Have to reply here because below we are at the deepest allowed level of nesting. Administrators are able to overrule a "not applicable" identification, and Bas happens to be an admin. Posted 11 years ago

Ludo Sak

Lion

simplicity in a snail, I love it, the description, the photo. Thanks for sharing it! Never saw a banana-like snail myself, Travis, I am more into the not-so-overly-ripe bananas myself:) Posted 11 years ago
1. travismorhardt
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks Ludo! And that's ok that our banana preferences differ! No judgement from me ;) Posted 11 years ago

The Pacific banana slug

Ariolimax columbianus is the second largest land slug in the world. Adults range from 15-20cm in length. Some have been recorded at 25.4 cm! Augustus A. Gould first gave these soft bodied invertebrates a scientific name in 1851. Some of the first studies were conducted along the Columbia River; hence the species name A. columbianus (Harper 1988). Gastropoda describes the banana slugs stomach-foot or muscular-foot, which allows them to slowly crawl on a series of muscular waves (Denny 1980). Pulmonata.. more

Info 9 0

Similar species: Pulmonata

Species identified by bpeters

By travismorhardt

Uploaded Jan 22, 2014. Captured Jul 30, 2011 07:37 in La Push Road, La Push, WA 98350, USA.

country flag of United States of America

Explore United States of America 40,038 9,661 8

Canon PowerShot SD780 IS
f/3.2
1/20s
ISO400
5.9mm

Captured in the summer. More summer photos.