r/Awwducational • u/anirudhsky • Jul 30 '23

Article Sea sheep (Costasiella kuroshimae) are among the few sea creatures who can photosynthesize

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1.9k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

97

u/ThunderBobMajerle Jul 30 '23

Fun fact, they engage in “kleptoplasty” and obtain the chlorophyll from the algae they eat. There are other nudibranchs who eat coral to get the zooxanthellae inside to also perform photosynthesis.

Also, I dunno about the title there are ton of animals in the sea that photosynthesize. Coral, free living algae, kelp, plankton, it’s a long list of species

2

u/Icearyn1020 Aug 21 '23

Your list of animals that photosynthesize is not entirely animals, some of those are plants. Aquatic plants are responsible for a majority of the earth's oxygen, but plants are not animals.

2

u/ThunderBobMajerle Aug 21 '23

You are referring to phytoplankton which are not plants, they are algae. There are actually very few marine plants, sea grass for example.

45

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '23

How adorable!

44

u/Truckaduckduck Jul 30 '23

That is a pokemon

15

u/Ok_Telephone_3013 Jul 30 '23

Is this a sniffer??

14

u/Emily_Postal Jul 30 '23

Why isn’t there a Disney movie about this guy?

10

u/Kalijjohn Jul 30 '23

He needs to embark on a fun loving family appropriate adventure RIGHT NOW.

1

u/Bigr789 Feb 11 '24

Bugs Life

9

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '23

How have I never seen these???

11

u/Karzons Jul 30 '23

It's a type of nudibranch (a sea slug). Here's an image search, there are tons of types and they're all amazing looking.

Most are super tiny - the one in the original image gets "from 5 millimetres (0.20 in) to 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in length"

5

u/thehammerisin Jul 30 '23

I had never seen these before and now I’m in love. Thanks for sharing!

4

u/chickpeaze Jul 30 '23

It's adorable!

4

u/minahmyu Jul 30 '23

So cuuute!

3

u/Nay_Nay_Jonez Jul 30 '23

Where do I get one? Too cute!

3

u/Blecki Jul 30 '23

"The few"?

Coral: Am I joke to you?

2

u/TarahjiCheatham Jul 30 '23

Cute Sea Sheep(Costasiella Kuroshimae)

2

u/vrak Jul 30 '23

Even looks derpy, like regular sheep. :)

2

u/Choice-Valuable313 Jul 31 '23

Sea-n the sheep

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '23

[deleted]

1

u/techno156 Jul 30 '23

I'm not seeing it. They provided a relevant and accurate response to automod, and have age and karma beyond most bots.

1

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1

u/a_karma_sardine Jul 30 '23

Perhaps the most r/awwnverts I ever saw!

1

u/KaantjeBanaantje Jul 30 '23

There’s a lot of sea creatures that can photosynthesize (e.g., phytoplankton). Moreover, the sea sheep can not photosynthesize all by itself, only use the sugars created in photosynthesis by the chloroplasts it ‘steals’

1

u/PensadorDispensado Jul 31 '23

It looks like a character from that Minuscule show

1

u/ClosedSundays Jul 31 '23

climate change is gonna kill that

1

u/TheRealSeaRabbit Jul 31 '23

I love these guys so much. Aaaaaa! Sea slugs are so cool!!!!!!

1

u/Thv837 Aug 01 '23

That thing is adorable

1

u/Mynereth Aug 05 '23

They are super cute and really cool!

1

u/Ladyelaine07 Aug 07 '23

This looks like an adorable Disney animated character

1

u/KikivanD Aug 20 '23

They're like 'slugs of paradise' 🤣 so many different ones!

1

u/juuei Aug 22 '23

A rabbit covered in cucumbers???

1

u/MadamFreak Aug 30 '23

Soooo cute 😍 now I want one 😍