What is Ecdysis and Dysecdysis?
Ecdysis is the shedding of skin.
Dysecdysis is the incomplete or improper shedding of skin.
Not all animals shed their skin. Reptiles are a good example of animals that shed their skin. Reptiles include turtles, tortoises, snakes, crocodiles, alligators, and lizards.
They shed their skin as they grow.
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Most people know that a snake sheds its skin, but does a lizard shed its skin?
A lizard is a reptile. Reptiles include snakes, lizards, crocodiles, alligators, caimans, turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. Reptiles lay soft-shelled eggs on land.
The Balkan Slow Worm (Pseudopus apodus) is also a reptile. It is not a worm and it is not a snake. It is a legless lizard. It actually has small (almost invisible), undeveloped rear legs, but it does not use its legs for locomotion. It is not a snake because it has eyelids (snakes do not have eyelids). It has a long tail. It is also known as the Pallas’s Glass Lizard, the European Glass Lizard, the Sheltopusik, or the Giant Russian Legless Lizard.
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The Emperor Scorpion (Pandinus imperator) is an arachnid, related to the spider. It has eight legs.
The Emperor Scorpion has a thick, black body with a segmented exo-skeleton. The exo-skeleton is called the ecdysis, and it glows blue in ultraviolet light. It has large pincers, called pedipalps, and a tail that curves over its body. At the end of its tail is a stinger, called a telson, that is mildy venomous.
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The Arabian Fat-Tailed Scorpion (Androctonus crassicauda) is a venomous arachnid. An arachnid, like the spider, has eight legs.
The Arabian Fat-Tailed Scorpion has grasping front claws, called pedipalps, and a thick, segmented tail that curves over its back. At the end of the tail is a venomous stinger called a telson. It is highly venomous to humans.
The Arabian Fat-Tailed Scorpion is usually reddish-brown in colour, but it can also be brown to black. It does not have an inner skeleton (bones). Instead, like the spider, it has an exo-skeleton – an outer skeleton or shield that protects its body. The exo-skeleton is called the ecdysis.
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Why do some snakes have a blue spot or a blue eye?
When snakes shed their skin, it is called ‘Blue’ because there is often a blue spot or blue eye.
Snakes shed their skin as they grow larger. This is called ecdysis.
Snakes produce a mucous (sticky liquid) when they shed their skin, which helps separate the old skin from the new skin. The mucous often enters their eye scale, turning it blue.
Snakes keep growing, so they shed their skin periodically (from time to time).
The process of shedding skin is called ecdysis.
Before shedding their skin, snakes look a bit bluish and their eyes become cloudy with a white or blue appearance. This is caused by fluid or liquid between the layers of the skin, called mucous.
The skin becomes loose at the lips and sheds off when snakes rub against things.