We have now come full cycle.  Eggs from slugs collected in the Keys have hatched, and the little ones have settled, grown to adulthood and have now produced their own eggs.  The slugs in Box of Slugs 2.0 have been producing eggs, but, because one wild-collected slug remains, I can’t be 100% sure who laid them.

This egg mass was laid in the 10-gallon growout tank at USG.  All of the potential parents came from egg masses collected between 1/19/18 and 1/24/18, and started hatching between 1/31/18 and 2/6/18.  So the maximum possible age of the parents is about 4 months, but they could have been a few weeks younger.

Egg mass in 10-gallon growout tank at USG. Found 5/27/18, but could have been deposited 5/26 or 5/27. Photograph 5/27/18.

Importantly, the eggs are almost 100% fertile.  The embryos could be seen developing within a few days, and started to look like veligers in less than a week.

A small section of a developing egg mass from 5/27/18, approximately 8 days post deposition. Depending on the viewing angle, it is possible to see a faint velum extending from each side of the head (embryo viewed face-on), or the shell and head structures (side view). Rare unfertilized embryo marked with an asterisk. 6/4/18.

Because I will be away for much of the summer, I will not be able to rear these embryos.  I am hoping for many more broods in the future.