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.

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.

Gift link:

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

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.

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)?

Excellent headline and graphic

> 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.

We should get Trent Reznor's opinion on these.

paywall.