Any idea what this "pod" is?

[Paul]

I got contacted recently by a fella called Gary who wanted to know if I could shed any light on something.

Here is our correspondence.....

I was out one morning after a rain and had to grab my camera to snap a series of pictures of a strange congregation of a snail, slug and something I have no idea what it is (I call it a pod). Can you assist on the identification?

Congregation:


Close up of the Pod:



I wrote back:


Hi Gary,

To be honest I have no idea what it is but I do have a few possibilities.

It could be a snail whose mantle has detached completely from the shell, leaving a blob behind.

It could be a slug that has been attacked in some way and has swollen up. This can occur with parasitic nematodes. They can also emit thick mucus to protect themselves but it doesn't look like that.

It looks like the insides of a snail. If you've ever seen pictures of the digestive tract being expelled through the mouth, it looks exactly like that, except it doesn't envelop the rest of the slug/snail.

Slugs will eat decaying animals and some species will hunt other slugs, it may be a half eaten meal.

Take your pick, your guess is as good as mine!

I'll post it to the forum to see if anyone else knows.

Best regards
paul



So, can anyone shed any better light on it?

[kab]

it reminds me a lot of what my cats leave behind after they have brought a mouse home and killed it although that is usually slightly more oval shaped than this , they always leave a pod thing that is full of gunk which i guess is bowel parts ??
its certainly a very odd looking thing
karen

[goose]

Yep looks like the stomach of a small mammal to me, presumably a vegetarian one judging by the contens, maybe a vole - cats do tend to leave the insides of small mammals they catch so I think kab may be right and the slug was feeding on the remains.

[Gary]

Thanks Paul for posting this, and thanks to you that have responded.

~ Gary Mikami ~