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| I am wondering what kind of slug? worm? or whatever that I saw today for the first time in my pond and stream. I found the first one on the underside of a rock in my stream. It was black, about 1.5 inches long and only 1/16" wide and could fold completely back on itself and stick to the rock in the stream flow (folding unrelated to sticking). It moved by oozing its inards into its front end extending its front approximately one half its length at a single oozing.
Then I noticed that I had several bigger ones resting in my pond. They were a little thicker. Aside from creepy, are these things good? bad? or indifferent? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by pondbucket 5 (My Page) on Fri, May 21, 10 at 18:19
| If it was in the water I would say it's a Leech. In almost three years of having the pond, I've had one leech, confirmed. They may have come in on some plant(s). Good/Bad/Indifferent? |
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- Posted by pondmaninal 7b (My Page) on Fri, May 21, 10 at 22:16
| Big and black and if it is a leech, it will be one that feeds on blood. Those would be bad for you and the fish. There are leeches that don't feed on blood but they are small and beige or brown. |
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| do leaches move like that?? |
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- Posted by timbersmith 6A (My Page) on Sat, May 22, 10 at 0:05
| The one experience I've had with a leech showed that it kinda moved like a flat inch-worm - it anchored its "head", pulled its "tail" up and anchored it and then moved its "head" forward. At max extension it was about 1.5" long and very thin, at max compression it was about 3/4" long and ~3/16" thick. Red in color. |
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- Posted by pondbucket 5, KS (My Page) on Sat, May 22, 10 at 0:35
| Chas, as Timbersmith said. They're many different kinds of leeches but if you're in North America you could probably do an online search and pretty quickly have your answer. Most around NA can be confused with a worm or slug. In-the-water-habit for the aquatic type of leech is one clear way of differentiating it. My understanding of it is that there are terrestrial leeches (I don't know if there are terrestrial leeches in North America). My neighbor is the real expert though. He's a Curator & Professor of Herpetology. If you have any questions or pictures I could take it 'em to him. |
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- Posted by catherinet z5 (My Page) on Sat, May 22, 10 at 10:38
| Lucky you pondbucket, to have him for a neighbor! We could have used him about a week ago when we found what looks like a mole salamander in our yard. Had never seen one (or any salamander)in the almost 30 years we've lived here! |
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