Slimy Slug antics

In class today students are looking at a variety of my shell jewelry and trying to identify the shells that the peices are made of. In first period, Cassandra and Kendra rocked the contest. In fourth period, Kevin, Dale, Caleb, and Brittany rocked it.

Caleb and Brittany were overhead one peice of jewelry made of paua shell (also known as abalone, example pictured to the right). Caleb said, "none of these shells are this colorful! Is this its natural color?" When I affirmed that it was the natural color, Brittany H said, "Why do these animals have to be so creative?" The abalone get their pretty inner shell color from their seaweed diet.

After testing that knowledge, they looked at interpretive cartoons and idenitfied which mollusc is being represented. They matched molluscs with their adapations and worked on review sheets. Any work not completed in class was assigned as homework.

Tomorrow students have their Unit 4 Test and on Monday they will have a practical examination.

Today first period got a close up look at the Limax maximus and their slimy mollusc bodies. They looked at the tentacles (eyespots and sensory tentacles) and the hole they breathe through. First period was a bit more adventurous in holding and touching slugs (which was optional)- with more than fifty percent participation. Pictured to the right is a slug crawling hand-off from Becca to Jay.

Slugs can be considered gross because of the copious amounts of mucus they leave behind. The mucus helps them get a better grip on surfaces and helps prevent dessication, drying out. It can also make the slug more difficult to pick up by predators. More information about slugs can be found here.

Maria with an S found the slugs particulary entertaining. (And she didn't even know about Albert's slug mustache from yesterday!)