> > Serge, I could only let you know as quickly as Netscape was able to get
> > through. Your slug is _Ariolimax columbianus_, the common native banana
> > slug of the Northwest. The introduced leopard slug, _Limax maximus_, has
> > little spots all over it.
>
>I was always quite puzzled. All the pictures of banana slugs I've seen so
>far were of uniformly colored individuals, so I was just wondering whether
>"my" guy was indeed a banana slug or another species...
>I've never seen such a "blotched" slug in any of the natural history books
>I've perused since I arrived here one year ago (well, I've not perused that
>many, anyway).
>

Serge et al.

The banana slug is polymorphic, it comes in yellow, blackish and black and
yellow. It ranges right down to California, but it is more patchily
distributed here as there are few areas moist enough for them. They are
rather common where I live, a coastal site that is often foggy, enough that
redwood forests on the slopes can get their water almost strictly from fog
drip. The slugs are in the redwoods as well as riparian corridors of
deciduous composition. However, what I have found interesting is that all of
the slugs I have seen so far are yellow, no dark ones! Either the dark
morphs are absent or they are rare here. Perhaps someone can confirm that I
am not imagening things or propose some ideas as to why the polymorphism
exists in the first species in the first place and why the pattern differs
here. Dennis, could it be due to the visual acuity or mental processing
power of their prey species :^)

P.S.- wish me luck on tomorrow's Bodega Bay pelagic.

Alvaro Jaramillo
Half Moon Bay, CA

alvaro at quake.net
http://www.quake.net/~alvaro/index.html