Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:
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cut off ... their *heads*!? 🤯
Yes. The question is how you see:
Cut off heads or bodies?
The body dies after decapitation, the head doesn't.
This is insane: A limb or a tail is one thing, the head is a whole new level.
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Yes. The question is how you see:
Cut off heads or bodies?
The body dies after decapitation, the head doesn't.
This is insane: A limb or a tail is one thing, the head is a whole new level.
@mina Both ways would be equally incredible - just imagine the body could grew a new head again, and the head a new body
but seriously, I'd heard about limbs and tails (lizards?), bus this is indeed something else.
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@mina Both ways would be equally incredible - just imagine the body could grew a new head again, and the head a new body
but seriously, I'd heard about limbs and tails (lizards?), bus this is indeed something else.
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Yes. The question is how you see:
Cut off heads or bodies?
The body dies after decapitation, the head doesn't.
This is insane: A limb or a tail is one thing, the head is a whole new level.
-
-
cut off ... their *heads*!? 🤯
-
Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:
1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.
Imagine being able to live from light!
1/2
@mina@berlin.social Didn't know I could be more in love with them, but here we are
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@mina@berlin.social Didn't know I could be more in love with them, but here we are
I thought the absolute same!
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Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:
1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.
Imagine being able to live from light!
1/2
@mina amazing!
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@mina amazing!
It absolutely blew my mind.
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M mindtunes@troet.cafe shared this topic
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Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:
1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.
Imagine being able to live from light!
1/2
@mina And the badass award goes to Costasiella kuroshimae!
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@mina And the badass award goes to Costasiella kuroshimae!
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Many of you might have already seen the ultra cute "sea sheep" (Costasiella kuroshimae), but yesterday I learned 2 mind-blowing facts about the family of sea slugs they belong to:
1. They incorporate chloroplasts (the organelles in plant cells that do the actual photosynthesis) of plants they eat, into their own bodies to do photosynthesis directly for them (that is the green colour you see), in order to survive if food is scarce.
Imagine being able to live from light!
1/2
@mina@berlin.social
This is the product of evolution, it developed from something less elaborate. How could it turn out THAT cute? How can cuteness be an evolutionary advantage?
Yes, life finds a way
Maybe i'll declare this as my new #god -
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@mina@berlin.social
This is the product of evolution, it developed from something less elaborate. How could it turn out THAT cute? How can cuteness be an evolutionary advantage?
Yes, life finds a way
Maybe i'll declare this as my new #godLet's found a cult!
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2. This allows some of these slugs to do a trick, no other animal can do.
If they get sick or damaged, they're able to cut off their heads, leaving the body with heart and digestive system behind and to regrow a whole body within a couple of days.
Whilst they do it, they live from photosynthesis alone (no digestive system), but how they manage to do so without a heart, is still unknown.
2/2
source and additional info:
@mina
I assume their head is small enough for the cells to get enough food and oxygen by diffusion without any kind of circulatory system but it's still astonishing.
