Known for its strange resemblance to the famous Choné Sheep, the “leaf slug or sheep” (Costasiella kuroshimae) is one of the most peculiar beings in the marine world.
In the shallow waters of Asia and the Coral Triangle, the lovely leaf sheep.
With a white face, small black eyes and two “ears” – this cute being, when not confused with the Choné sheepis confused with a little ghost.
As Live Science writes, the aforementioned “ears” are special organs called rhinophorescovered in tiny hairs, that help leaf sheep sense chemicals in the water and find food.
Their tiny bodies are also covered by green structures calls waxedwhich resemble leaves and give them greater surface area for gas exchange.
Com 8 millimeters longthe leaf sheep was first discovered off the island of Kuroshima, Japan, in 1993. They have also been recorded in the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
These little ghosts are found in shallow water near coral reefs. They live by startedwhich also serve as food.
Solar powered
The great peculiarity of this adorable sea slug is that it eats seaweed to steal its photosynthesis capacity and become solar powered. In other words, it performs photosynthesis.
When sheep eat algae, they absorb chloroplasts – special structures where photosynthesis occurs. These are filled with chlorophyll, and the green pigment gives the sea slugs’ bodies a color similar to their leaves. This not only helps them blend in with their surroundings to better hide from predators, but also gives them a smart way to generate food.
Sea slugs steal chloroplasts through a process called cleptoplastia – from the Greek word for “thief” – and store them in their tissues for up to 10 days. Chloroplasts continue to function inside animals, allowing them to create energy through photosynthesis.
“Imagine that you ate a salad and stored the chloroplast in your digestive system, so you only need to sunbathe to make food“, he explained to the BBC, quoted by Live Science, Miguel Azcunaassistant professor of marine natural products chemistry at Batangas State University in the Philippines.
Along with corals, salamanders and giant clams, these solar-powered slugs are among the few animals that can photosynthesize.
