When you and your girlfriend have different ideas about "necking."

From Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare (1968).

What is a Hear Me Out?

They can be considered attractive in some way to you (but often not conventionally

They are someone/thing that you would not expect to be found attractive

I do love it when you get species like these, those that form a sort of symbiosis. Two creatures living closely together, be it beneficial or parasitic in nature, means that I get to see two species in one! Really makes it easy for me! Don't have to track them down, as I just have to find one and the other comes with! Of course, with parasitic interactions, I am sure the host isn't as thrilled as I am about such things, but that is a part of nature. Parasites can be freaky, and I certainly don't like having any on or in me, but they are a part of the ecosystem. Part of the whole web! So I must show appreciation for them when I can, because I know there are a whole lot of folk out there who despise them. Certainly valid reasons for disliking things that cause disease and discomfort, but at the end of the day, these species aren't really aware of what they are doing. Can't exactly apply a moral code to a fungus, well, to a non-sapient fungus. But that is the complexity of people's attitudes towards parasitic species and what mindset we approach such a subject.....I'm rambling again, aren't I? Gah, get back on track, Chlora!

What I was trying to lead into was talking about the rokurokubi, a rather interesting fungus that is known to parasitize kimono slugs. It gets into the host by way of infected insect, hiding within one host until it is ingested by a random kimono slug. Takes full advantage of the host's feeding method, as you know that they strain the air for such nutrients! ......you do know that, right? I mean, of course you do, you read my entry on kimon-I NEVER WROTE THE ENTRY! CHLORA, YOU KNOTHEAD! Oh, I knew I was forgetting something! I have to write one up for it, oh but we just locked in how many entries this region was going to have! Eucella is going to be furious if I try sneaking in one more! Well, I guess I can lump them in to this one...

Okay, so lets do this quick: kimono slugs are...well, not actually slugs. They are terrestrial sea cucumbers (land cucumbers, if you will) that feed on detritus and use oral tentacles to also capture small bits of food that float upon the wind. Like spores, tiny insects, dust and what not. They are pretty sluggish creatures, moving quite slow and doing little else but eat and reproduce. Such a slow pace combined with the wide variety of colors and patterns they can have has led to the name "kimono slug" with the first part referencing a type of clothing from the same regions they are found in. Fun fact: locals do eat kimono slugs! Though I have heard they aren't that flavorful, thus a bunch of recipes revolve around infusing flavor into the meat so that it tastes good. Seems like a lot of extra effort when you could just eat a creature that actually tastes good, but hey, everyone has got to eat. Not everyone has the luxury of a fully stocked garden and plentiful wildlands. Actually pretty resourceful of them finding a way to make the meat more palatable. And I also haven't gotten a chance to taste one, so maybe there is something to it!

But back, once again, to the subject at hand: the rokurokubi. Like I said, it is a fungus that is known to parasitize kimono slugs, getting into them by inhabiting the body of bugs and then being eaten. Once it is brought into the body, the growth within the insect breaks free. It slowly spreads throughout the body, concentrating most of its growth around the mouth area. Though it sounds quite invasive, infection is not lethal, nor is it that life altering. The rokurokubi fungus merely uses the kimono slug as a substrate to grow and hide in, being protected from fungivores. It does leech away nutrients to grow, but it doesn't seem to hinder healthy adult kimono slugs that much. Most of the time, you would be hard pressed to even identify a host to this fungus,as they remain hidden within the body. It is only when it decides to spread its spores does it become more apparent.

When it comes time for it to spread, the rokurokubi fungus develops fruiting bodies inside the mouth. These are long flexible stalks that end in dark, drippy looking caps. This is actually gleba, a very sticky and stinky goop that contains the rokurokubi's spores. When the fruiting body is fully developed, it will emerge from the mouth of the kimono slug and extend upward. It gets nice and high so that the stink of its gleba can spread, enticing carrion eating insects to come in for a meal! The height also helps said insects from being eaten by the host! Those that feed on the gleba will ingest the spores, which will then start to grow inside the host insect. The spore will only partially develop, building up the shape and defenses it needs to parasitize the kimono slug once its host bug is eaten. Once that happens, the cycle begins anew!

While it does sound pretty horrific to have a fungus grow through your body and emerge from your mouth, kimono slugs don't seem that bothered by it. It does take away nutrients and cause some trouble with its oral tendrils during the spore spreading, but they tend to get on with their life pretty easily. It is us, the observers, who are more disturbed by this, especially humans! The fungus and slug combined can give the impression of a long haired human from a distance, which makes it even freakier when its "neck" extends like that! Encounters in the early days led to some wild tales, but it has long been realized what was behind such stories. The rokurokubi and its host may startle unsuspecting folk from time to time, but we are long past the time when they were seen as monstrous humans or weird spirits. The only real problem is that folk don't like the taste of infected kimono slugs when it comes to cuisine. It seems the rokurokubi imparts a pretty nasty flavor to the meat. And folks typically don't like weird fungal tendrils in their food.

Chlora Myron

Dryad Natural Historian

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Mom'sters '25: Cookie-Rokurokubi

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