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‘You’d want one as a pet’: the irresistibly cute solar-powered sea slug
The beady-eyed, Pokémon-like leaf sheep is far more ingenious than us land mammals
TL;DR
- The leaf sheep (*Costasiella kuroshimae*) is a small sea slug that grazes on specific algae species.
- It lives in tropical waters around Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
- The slug practices kleptoplasty, stealing chloroplasts from algae to perform photosynthesis.
- These chloroplasts are stored in leaf-like branches called cerata on its back, acting as solar panels.
- The cerata also provide camouflage and chemical defenses, and its rhinophores are sensory tentacles.
- It was first described in 1993 and has gained popularity due to underwater photography.
- Its appearance draws comparisons to Pokémon and Shaun the Sheep.