Saturday, October 29, 2022

A recipe for witch's brew?

I photographed some interesting creatures this morning on a late October walk near my home in SW Oregon. Seems like they could make a tasty witch's brew if added to boiling caldron: eye of rough-skinned newt, slime of banana slug, venom of spider. Yummy!   

A rough skinned newt crosses a county road near Elkton is rural southwestern Oregon. The body of a rough skinned newt contains a deadly neurotoxin that is also present in some pufferfish, octopuses, crabs, starfish, flatworms, frogs, and toads. The bright coloration is thought to be a warning to possible predators.

A large banana slug slowly crosses the road nearby. Banana slugs found in the Pacific northwest of North America can reach nearly 10 inches in length and are the second largest air breathing land slugs in the world.

An orb-weaver spider dangles from a thread over the roadway. They’re called orbweavers (family Araneidae) because the webs they spin are the classic, round, flat webs.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment