Slug facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
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Slug is a general term for a gastropod mollusc which has no shell, or just a small internal shell.

Slugs belong to several different families which also include snails with shells. Snails are gastropods with a coiled shell large enough for the animal to pull back inside. The families of land slugs are not very closely related, despite looking similar. The shell-less slug type is an example of convergent evolution, and so the category "slug" is not a taxonomic category.

The name "slug" is used for air-breathing land slugs, while the marine forms are usually known as sea slugs. Land gastropods with a shell that is too small to hide the body are sometimes called semislugs.

Body parts and behaviour

Slug parts
Body parts of a slug

Like land snails, most slugs have four 'feelers' or tentacles on their head. The upper two (the "optical tentacles") see light and have eyespots at the ends, while the lower two (the "sensory tentacles") are used for smelling. The tentacles are retractable, and can regrow if lost.

On top of the slug, behind the head, is a body part called the mantle, and under this are the genital opening and anus. On one side (almost always the right side) of the mantle is a breathing hole, which is easy to see when open, but difficult to see when closed. Inside the mantle in some species is a very small, flat shell.

The bottom of a snail is called a "foot". Like other snails, a slug moves by rhythmic waves of muscle contraction on the bottom of its foot. At the same time, it secretes a layer of mucus on which it travels, which helps prevent damage to the foot. Around the edge of the foot is the 'foot fringe'.

Some slug species hibernate underground during the winter in places with cold winters, but in other species, the adults die in the autumn.

Images for kids

  • Ambigolimax

    An active Ambigolimax slug in Fremont, California

  • Slug eggs and baby

    Deroceras juvenile with eggs

  • Large Slug near Manali, India

    Large Slug near Manali, India

  • Slug feeding on fruit

    Lehmannia feeding on a small fruit in Mexico City

  • A brown and yellow spotted slug curled up into a tight ball so that its head is withdrawn completely, its mantle edge and tail are nearly touching, and none of its foot surface is exposed

    The alarm response posture of the Kerry slug, which is found only in this species

  • Mating Great Grey Slug 4124

    Limax maximus mating

  • Black-velvet leatherleaf slug (belocaulus angustipes)

    Belocaulus angustipes mating; note the white penis extending to the reproduction pore on the underside of the smaller slug

  • Arion vulgaris eating

    Arion vulgaris feeding

  • Ghost Slug adult

    The ghost slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda)

  • Amanita amerimuscaria 126174

    A banana slug eating a fly agaric, Amanita muscaria

  • Snail worm

    Arion ater eating an earthworm

  • Ambigolimax Slug ഒച്ച് from Calicut Kerala

    Ambigolimax from Calicut Kerala India


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Slug Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.