Colorful Photo: Bright Pink Slug in Australia's Mount Kaputar

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Fluorescent Pink Slug at Australia’s Mount Kaputar
A fluorescent pink slug or Triboniophorus aff. Graeffei at Australia’s Mount Kaputar. (Image credit: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service)

On rainy nights, Australia's Mount Kaputar is full of giant, fluorescent pink slugs or Triboniophorus aff. graeffei. The slugs can be up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) long and are hard to spot during the day when they hide in leaf mold. At night, the slugs come out to feed on moss. Some 17 million years ago, a volcano at Mount Kaputar erupted keeping the region damp enough for these slugs.

Nina Sen
Nina Sen
Nina Sen is a frequent contributor to Live Science’s Life’s Little Mysteries series: an exploration and explanation of our world’s phenomena, both natural and man-made. She also writes astronomy photo stories for Live Science's sister site Space.com.