A little white ground snail in an atypical place
Click for greater clarity.
Along the same fringe of Spicewood Springs Rd. in far north Austin where I recently found a possumhaw full of fruit, I once photographed this little white snail on the glochids (and one spine) of a prickly pear cactus. The date was August 15, 2011. The cactus is still there, but I can’t say the same for the snail.
© 2013 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Snails seem to have a way of getting themselves stuck in strange places. 😉
Lynda
January 22, 2013 at 7:13 AM
So have I, at times!
Steve Schwartzman
January 22, 2013 at 7:20 AM
What an interesting place. I had to really look a while to figure out what is was stuck to. I had not read the post.
petspeopleandlife
January 22, 2013 at 10:29 PM
I’ve encountered some strange things out there in nature.
Steve Schwartzman
January 22, 2013 at 10:55 PM
That little white snail’s living quite a different life from my Janthina! I was glad for the link to glochids. I’d never heard the word, though I know the reality. I read the entire entry, picked up a few more words and a good bit more understanding about cactus.
And, as a final treat, I found one of those connections so dear to my heart: “Glochids from prickly pears (Opuntia species) can cause an extremely pruritic, papular eruption called sabra dermatitis, which can easily be confused with scabies or fiberglass dermatitis.” I know fiberglass dermatitis! So here’s a tip that may or may not help with glochids. In the shipyard, a low-tech and pretty effective way of getting fiberglass off skin is to rub the affected area vigorously with nylon stockings. If you ever spot a pile of nylons around boats, that’s probably the explanation. 😉
shoreacres
January 23, 2013 at 7:44 AM
Definitely a different life from your Janthina. I learned about glochids, and not just the word, soon after I started concentrating on native plants in Texas. Add glochids to the list of occupational hazards a nature photographer faces here (but luckily I’ve never gotten any glochids stuck in my face). I’m sorry to hear that you know about fiberglass dermatitis in the same way I know about glochiditis (to coin a term). I’ll keep your remedy in mind for the next time I’m afflicted. Thanks for the suggestion.
Steve Schwartzman
January 23, 2013 at 8:07 AM