The Leaf Sheep
August 22, 2020 2:39 AM   Subscribe

Costasiella kuroshimae - the Sea Sheep or Leaf Sheep - is a species of sea slug found around islands in East Asia. They feed on algae, retaining the chloroplasts so they can perform photosynthesis. Non-science: they look really cute. (other sea slugs are available)
posted by Wordshore (14 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not baaaaad!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:04 AM on August 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


oh dip we're talking about sea sheep now i've got to tell the zaniest joke that i actually believe. okay... here we go.

so, i'm generally skeptical of technological fixes for social problems, but nevertheless i firmly believe that one clear path to solving the human social problems that have beset us throughout recorded history is to

> They feed on algae, retaining the chloroplasts so they can perform photosynthesis

engineer a way for humans to produce energy through photosynthesis.

comrades! let us seize the means of atp production! the time for green liberation is upon us! let us break our heterotrophic chains and together rise up toward the sun!

wake up, leaf sheeple!
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:31 AM on August 22, 2020 [10 favorites]


Did not believe slugs of any sort could be adorable. Was wrong.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:45 AM on August 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


Did not believe slugs of any sort could be adorable. Was wrong.

Sea slugs are as colorful and varied as tropical fish or butterflies! Do a google image search and prepare to have your mind blown.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:44 AM on August 22, 2020 [5 favorites]


Oh MAN! Those are GREAT!

I now would like to see an Aardman feature, please. Shaun the Sea Sheep, which also doubles as a tongue-twister.

Also, that is some awesome and skilled science photography right there.

I had never heard of leaf sheep and now I am delighted. Thank you for this, Wordshore - it's probably the most beautiful and cutest thing I'll see all day!
posted by kristi at 9:55 AM on August 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


I’l bet that slug knows the way through the Labyrinth.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:58 AM on August 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


So... are those tiny black dots really its eyes? If so, why are they so close together? (I mean, other than to make it look adorable, obviously.)
posted by a car full of lions at 10:07 AM on August 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


So very cute! I had no idea, being sadly ignorant of sea slugs, but it figures they are in the vicinity of Japan.
posted by mermayd at 10:08 AM on August 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


Elysia chlorotica is another sea slug planimal that photosynthesizes. I find them just as cute as these guys, but I find nearly all animals cute or interesting or beautiful so I recognize my judgment as not well-calibrated to your average person - nonetheless, they're my go-to planimals rather than C. kuroshimae because they look just like leaves, which helps drive the point home how weird and cool this kind of horizontal gene transfer is.

a car full of lions: yeah, those are the eyes. They also have black tips on the rhinophores (the branchy antennae-looking nose-tentacles; gastropods are weird), which I find compounds the cuteness.

These guys are pretty recently discovered (1999? I think) and fairly rare, too. Earth is a pretty cool planet. There's lots of interesting organisms we won't discover or know nearly enough about before they're gone.
posted by Lonnrot at 11:05 AM on August 22, 2020 [6 favorites]


PS Squidtoons has a cute anatomy poster for Costasiella kuroshimae by Dana Song and Garfield Kwan.
posted by Lonnrot at 11:07 AM on August 22, 2020 [6 favorites]


Horizontal gene transfer between kingdoms is really neat, but I think the leaf-shape is secondary to the nuclear genes required to support chloroplasts, that more likely it's a coincidental convergent evolution.
posted by porpoise at 7:54 PM on August 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


My peeps! So much pride!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 2:44 AM on August 23, 2020 [7 favorites]


I was not prepared for the cuteness - They are SO cute ! Teeny leetle sheep faces !
posted by Sparky Buttons at 7:28 AM on August 23, 2020 [1 favorite]


Awwww.
*melts into a quivering puddle*
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:00 AM on August 24, 2020


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