Culling the Runts by Emilia Ferrante

culling the runts: the process by which one eliminates, when breeding snails in captivity,genetically weak offspring from a clutch of snails.the runts need to be culled, otherwise they suffer,in pain, their whole lives. this isn’t a metaphor:the runts, doomed, grow slower than the organs inside of themselves.that’s what a runt is: organs growing faster than a malformed shellevery two weeks for the first six weeks … Continue reading Culling the Runts by Emilia Ferrante

Genna RivieccioFebruary 14, 2024Leave a comment

Poetry

Invertebrate Musings by Emilia Ferrante

I want to talk about abyssal gigantism: the way animals in the deep sea take up more space, make themselves larger. It’s right there in the name: abyssal, meaning of the abyss, gigantism, meaning preternaturally large. You probably know about the giant squid— I did too. But what I didn’t know was that the giant squid is just one of many enormous sea creatures. There’s the giant oarfish, the seven-arm octopus, and, to … Continue reading Invertebrate Musings by Emilia Ferrante

Genna RivieccioFebruary 13, 2024Leave a comment