Research
A tiny ocean animal called the leaf sheep figured out how to make its own food from sunlight
Earth.com · By Eric Ralls ·
The Brief
- The leaf sheep is a sea slug that resembles a cartoon lamb, with leaf-shaped growths on its back.
- Its growths are green because it keeps chloroplasts from the algae it eats.
- Chloroplasts capture sunlight, which lets the slug make its own food from light.
Why it matters
It is a striking case of an animal using chloroplasts taken from its algal food to get energy from sunlight, which is of interest to readers following photosynthesis and symbiosis.
Who’s affected
- biologists and marine scientists
- readers interested in marine life
- #sea slug
- #photosynthesis
- #chloroplasts
- #marine biology
- #symbiosis
The leaf sheep is a sea slug that looks like a cartoon lamb standing in its own pasture. Oddly enough, the pasture is the strange part. The leaf-shaped growths on its back are green because the slug keeps chloroplasts, which are the sunlight-capturing parts of the algae it eats…