Nine-Inch Snails

soupfordummies

Excellent headline and graphic

ai_critic

> The snails, which actually grow to about eight inches in length, but can stretch—if nothing else, for headline-writing purposes—to nine inches, have worried Florida authorities since 1969. Delightfully self-aware.

zem

I remember when those snails invaded bombay in the 80s. saw one or two, and then they were suddenly everywhere. it was amazing how fast it happened.

walrus01

We should get Trent Reznor's opinion on these.

tambeb

Gift link: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/2026/10/giant-african-sn...

codedokode

Small snails look cute but 8-inch snail sounds a bit scary. Also how do they avoid being eaten by predators if they are slow and vulnerable? Also I recently saw small slugs which were crawling on the sidewalk along with worms who get to the surface after rain. I wonder what those slugs were planning to do given its middle of October and temperature is merely 10°C (50F)?

karim79

My personal favourite parasite is the human botfly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatobia_hominis This bastard is a fascinating one. I mean there are others, but this one is close to my heart.

skipkey

The salt river northeast of Phoenix has been infested with apple snails from central america - they get up to 6" or so. The forest service regularly runs events where people in kayaks and on paddle boards help clear that section of river of the clumps of eggs.

hypfer

Topic itself aside, that is some fantastic writing. A joy to read and a genuine value proposition. That is what journalism worth its paywall looks like.

WarOnPrivacy

A FL county just north of Tampa has been dealing with GALS for a few years https://www.cityofnewportrichey.org/Departments/Public-Works...

wilbo

The article only briefly mentions the horrors of rat lungworm, but if you live in a warm, tropical climate where this is prevalent (Hawaii, increasingly Florida) you really want to avoid it. Apparently there is some evidence that people born in regions where it is more prevalent have some natural resistance. The main way to get it is accidentally ingesting an infected slug on raw produce, like leafy greens. Here's a podcast on this parasite, what's known about it and how to avoid it: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-daniel-and-kellys-extraor...