Even the meeting of lips can become an aggressive act in the animal kingdom. When humans come lip to lip, the result is a tender kiss, but this is not so for all animals. Some creatures throw mouths at each other with such fury that it resembles boxing. Indeed, some slugs use their mouthparts to viciously fight over meals. We may think of slugs as slow-moving, imperceptive, and well, sluggish. However, this Instagram reel reveals how slugs are capable of violence through a bout of muzzle madness.
Slugs are unassuming and gelatinous, but when it comes to food, they aren’t willing to take any prisoners. This explosive little video shows three slugs hammering away at each other with their mouths while a delicious piece of food sits in between them, waiting for a winner. Even on close inspection, it is hard to tell aggressor from defender. One of the slugs is obviously engaged in a struggle with another, but the third slug closest to the camera seems involved, too.
Perhaps it is trying to grab the piece of food while the other slugs are distracted. Considering its agitated movements, maybe it is even trying to join in the fight. Let’s learn more about these slugs, why they are fighting with their faces, and how they pull off such malicious maneuvers.
Slug Specifics
Slugs originally lived in the ocean, but millions of years of evolution brought them out of the water and onto the land. Nevertheless, they still require almost constant moisture.
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Though generally thought of as slow-moving garden pests, there are a fair number of fascinating facts about these gastropods. Their name comes from the fact that their entire body basically consists of a muscular foot that moves and winds through the dirt. Like a lot of generalized names, slug is a common name for any type of gastropod mollusk that lacks a shell. (Snails are also gastropods, with shells.) Ancient slugs lived in the ocean. Though many species of slug evolved to navigate the land, all slugs still require constant moisture. They smell with their tentacles, reproduce by themselves, and can stretch out to about 20 times their normal length. There are not many spaces a slug can’t fit through if it has a mind to try.
Funny Fangs
Snails have up to 27,000 microscopic teeth in their mouths on a tongue-like organ called a radula. They use their radulas to scrape at food and even fight.
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In this Instagram reel, two or three slugs battle it out for a piece of food. Though their faces and mouths look like jelly, they are actually fully formed, stable appendages. Slugs have up to 27,000 microscopic teeth in those blubbery mouths. These practically invisible teeth are arranged in a ribbon-like structure called a radula. They use their radulae to scrape food and shred it small enough to swallow.
You likely believe sharks and slugs have little in common, but these two animals share an interesting bit of physiology: they aren’t married to their teeth. Indeed, slugs, like sharks, are constantly shedding their teeth and growing more in their place. One wonders just how many microscopic slug teeth you’ve stepped on while enjoying your garden. A radula is like a tongue, jaw, and denture in one. Snails use them to eat, but as we will soon discover, they also use them to fight.
Food Fight
Slugs will sometimes use their radulae to fight each other, even if it looks pretty silly or even romantic from our point of view.
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They may move pretty slowly on the ground, but slugs become quite active when food is at stake. The video shows slugs dodging, weaving, and striking at each other with uncharacteristic fury. Those radulae containing thousands of microscopic teeth come into play, as the slugs use them to nudge, jostle, and push each other. The stakes are high because food is on the line. This vicious fighting display is some of the least expected behavior from slugs, but even in the case of small creatures, nature can be pretty fierce.
Lingering Questions
Leopard slugs have been observed fighting and pursuing other slugs in scientific experiments.
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While this video shows a pretty extraordinary scene, there are still some unanswered questions. Because this mouth-boxing is rarely observed in slugs, we don’t know much about it. The slugs in the video, as far as can be discerned, might be Limax maximus, or leopard slugs. These mollusks are known to become aggressive when food is on the line. Scientific experiments have shown these slugs fighting and even pursuing other slugs when there is competition for food or shelter. The unexpected video goes to show that even slugs will fight for what they want.
