And I like that. More snail porn was sent my way; this one I can’t blithely throw up on the page because, in addition to an extravagantly naked snail, it also has an unclothed mammal…and for some reason, some people freak out over exposed mammalian skin. So warning, warning, warning, nsfw, grow up a little bit, etc., etc., etc. Don’t get too hot and bothered over the spectacular and lovely mollusc, either.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Gee, there’s how to titillate a snail!
Wonder how much that snail had to pay for all the rhinestones.
That might be the coolest mollusc ever. If only Douglas Adams were still alive. The Vogons could surely burn this critter’s meat as well as they could the crabs.
Next on Pimp My Gastropod Crib: are rhinestones hardcore bling? Or does a molluscan brother need legit ice to keep it real? Coming up after these messages…
Lucky snail!
That’s disgusting! :0
(I’m talking about the snail, mind)
Last two: “Hello? Hello? I’m going into a tunnel…”
I would have thought the top link on that site (“Show”) was more to PZ’s taste.
Snoop around that Will Patterson site a bit and PZ would *LOVE* to see THIS:
http://www.willpaterson.com/show.htm
Even snails like boobies
That thing is HUGE!
Cue creationists coming in here to say that Africa must have more protection from solar radiation in order for these giant slugs to exist…
She looks cold. :/
Awesome, but cold.
Oh, come on! I have bigger, pointier nipples than that! By the way, can you show a nipple on US TV without making it clear if it’s a man’s or a woman’s?
Censorship is so stupid. Unnecessary censorship is funny though.
Eh…. boobs do nothing for me. But that is a lovely snail. The shell is unreal, way cool.
Can I just guess that is someone’s MySpace or Facebook picture? Fun times.
Cool, both the snail and the cephalopod hat on the ‘show’ link.
I’m just waiting for the first person to say, “Needs more bacon.”
Oh, curses. It was me.
A question: PZ uses “mollusc,” but I’ve also seen “mollusk.” Is one or the other most prominent in scientific literature?
How lovely the snail is.
You sure the other thing’s a mammal? That eye looks pretty invertebrate to me…
My name is A Snail Named Slickfoot. Like “A Tribe Called Quest,” you say the whole thing.
What snail?
What boobie?
What picture?
Oh…
(/Turns images back on…)
I like to think that the snail’s snazzy outfit was made by someone who makes snail outfits. They were the loneliest person at the craft fair, until one day Will Paterson showed up at their booth. “I’ll take it! In fact, I’ll take all of them — and can you make more?”
At long last — vindication. Who’s laughing now, eh?
(That’s a pretty weird image, too.)
So that’s why mollusks are called “basically flatworms with a hat on”.
PZ: You missed this on the same page: http://www.willpaterson.com/show.htm
The last time that I left a sticky trail, I was politely told to never call again. Do you think perhaps I wasn’t wearing enough bling?
“I just washed my tentacles and I can’t do a thing with them!”
NSFW:
http://terpsboy.com/blogpics05/male-snail.jpg
“Even snails like boobies”
Betcha boobies like snails too.
Finally! An oblique reference that lets me post this without being totally off topic (unnecessary censorship).
On late night cable I caught a show about bonobos. They are much less violent than chimpanzees because they solve their problems with sex. It showed two bonobos rushing at each other holding tree branches, then they dropped the sticks and had sex. Group sex, gay sex, face-to-face sex (with appropriate video clips of each) – It seems to be a pretty important part of bonobo culture.
So, first of all – Too bad humans didn’t evolve this way. Conflicts of any kind are resolved through sex. Someone cuts you off in traffic, have sex. The boss has to give you bad news . . . ok, maybe not.
Second – every time the program showed the monkeys having sex, which was about 50 times in a 6 minute story, a little red circle came up with CENSORED! They were censoring monkey sex!!!!! I found that very funny, especially because the next channel over was showing a show about the Bunny Ranch brothel, in Nevada I think, showing uncensored primate sex.
that’s either a really tiny mammal, or a really huge mollusc
Andyo @13:
Of course not. Otherwise, how would you know whether to get all hot and bothered?
There are many things I figured I might see online today. This was not one of them.
Generally, I’m against using innocent animals in ways like this. That bling must weigh a lot, and who knows if the addition of glue makes some kind of growth or other metabolic system difficult for the creature.
Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I have been for years since I saw the movie “Blue Water, White Death” and saw the entire audience reduced to four-year-olds oohing and ahhing over the perfectly natural and necessary way sharks feed and live – it was really disgusting.
Amazing how quickly snails adapt to Milan catwalk ecosystems.
I love pictures like this, especially of great big ones!
What is the pink blobby round thing it is on, though?
#13, that’s a damn interesting question! What do you think?
Also, to #36: Based on the molluscs in the fossil record which seem to have successfully overgrown shell ectoparasites, I don’t think it’s likely to be a big deal for the gastropod. As it grows, it will probably just sort of submerge the bling into its shell…which means that it will look REALLY spectacular in a few years when the rhinestones are all inset a millimeter into the periostracum!
And this snail thought, “One more mountain to climb.”
Wow, that snail is awesomely huge. The bling bling is horrible though… Can’t be too healthy for the poor snail.
Octopod, I hope you’re right.
Curiously enough the big picture on the BBC News Science and Technology is also a snail (no bling or booby though):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/sci_nat_enl_1237912079/html/1.stm
Apparently Nucella lapillus living in the Gulf of Maine are about 25% larger than the were a century ago.
Giant African snails are hideously bad invasive species all around the world, so it would be better to stomp on every one you see than to be feeling bad for it. They’re major agricultural pests, and the carnivorous snails introduced in misguided attempts to control them caused the extinction of most of the Hawaiian land snails. I can only imagine what that radula feels like on sensitive parts as well…
Hmm. West Africa eh.
I think I ate some of them.
I’m sorry.
peter g
Dunno about the giant snail (that sucker must weigh a couple POUNDS!) but I do know it’s widely illegal to paint turtle shells, or dye duckies and chickies in the shell just before birth, or bunnies anytime, for the Easter trade.
I don’t know, frankly, what harm it does to the bunnies and birds to be thus dyed, maybe the problem was just accelerated selling of farm animals to city kids. But turtle shells can be badly deformed if they’re painted and the paint left on. A BAD THING to do.
Noni
PS, remind me, someone. Don’t snails have sharp little teeth underneath? As if we needed MORE creeping-out.
Ok, not quite snail porn-it’s nudibranchs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nembrotha_rutilans_Nick_Hobgood.jpg
I’m also in the “what about the radula” camp, but that could just be a female reaction, kinda like guys cringing when vasectomies are discussed…
Naked snail- isn’t that a slug?
I don’t cringe when people talk about vasectomies- they don’t hurt for at least 8 hours. That’s because they use the same anaesthetic as dentists, but it acts faster as everything is looser than gums. Like the man said- you’ll just feel a small prick.
You tell me. By the way, anyone watches Family Guy? (I know Zeno might.) On Sunday they slipped a “for fuck’s sake” uncensored, it was priceless. I had to turn on the closed captioning to see they meant “for Fox sake” (they guy was trying to get Lois to work for Fox News for “Fox’s sake”.
My sister used to raise ducks when we were much younger. Did a very good job of cleaning out any snails and slugs in the garden [you trade them for the flies that the duck poop attracts]. I can imagine three of four of them fighting over one of these snails.
The resolution on my computer is set so that the part of the picture with the snail, some skin and hair was visible. Then I scrolled down. Holy shit! Then I noticed that the scroll bar showed that there was a lot more beyond the right margin. Holy shit!!!!!!!
Ya’ think that this might be a new fetish?
Oh, I’m not paid to think, just to raise stupid questions about TV.
That’s one big snail!
Hi, I am Will (the guy who did the pix) and no snails were harmed in the making of this. we made a temporary casing for the animal!
Hey, Im karly. I made the rhinestone casing for the snail and appeared in the pictures. This is so surreal, I cant believe my art work made its way onto this site. Cheers for the comments guys!
To confirm wills statement, No snails were harmed in the making of this piece. I have the case sitting on my bedside table and the snail now resides with my ex boyfriend!
Hmm, a nipple. Not like I don’t see one of those every time I change clothes or bathe.
Not that anyone’s still reading this thread…but:
Trochus radula (check out the cute eye, too.)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2818583296939874264
Nerite radula. Tiny snail, big “teeth”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8831958492855747162
Nerite radula. Pretty cool foot, too. & little eyes off to the side…
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4461119667962332671
They only scrape when they sense food, tho. Snail food…
(See ya in GR tonite PZ!!!)
Karly Rayner wrote:
And where does the nipple now reside?