Are these the cutest little things you’ve ever seen? There’s no way they can be real, right? Is this a new type of cryptid to add to the cryptozoology roster? Well, I don’t know. Join me as CryptoVille investigates!
I saw these on the internet and thought for sure, these have to be fake. The opening line captured my attention, “The only animal that can photosynthesize.” So I looked around and this is what I found out.
These Leaf Sheep, also known as Sea Sheep, do look very much like sheep, but their “wool” is made from cells that hold other, special cells able to synthesize light into food, just like a plant! And while sheep normally live on land, these cuties live in the ocean around Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippine islands.
Its scientific name is Costasiella kuroshimae and it’s a species in the family of sacoglossan sea slugs, a group that has the unusual ability to photosynthesize food. They can’t actually photosynthesize food themselves. Instead, they ingest specialized cells from the green algae they eat called chloroplasts.
This process, called kleptoplasty, was once thought to be unique in the animal world to just a few sea slugs. However recent research has revealed that some aphids and spotted salamanders may be able to do the same thing.
Incorporating chloroplasts into their physiology allows sea sheep to manufacture their own food/energy on which they can live for a few months. Some have dubbed them, “Solar Powered Slugs.”
These creatures are very small and average around 0.2 inches long. Another source says they can grow to be 1 centimeter long. Here’s a video of one in action taken by Catrin Pichler and Tim Ho:
So cute!!
Please stop by our Facebook page, CryptoVille, where we share all manner of strange, beautiful, and sometimes silly things related to the world of Cryptozoology! Like our page while you’re there.
References
https://www.thedodo.com/sea-sheep-leaf-slug-1259833755.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costasiella_kuroshimae
https://www.adaptnetwork.com/planet/environment/leaf-sheep-sea-slug-costasiella-kuroshimaesea/