Mastodawn

Guillotines might. Missing from the social media discussion of these is that this only happened to young sea slugs. Older ones just died after some days, and did not regenerate their bodies.

https://sciencefocus.com/news/solar-powered-sea-slugs-are-able-detach-their-heads-and-regenerate-a-whole-new-body-within-weeks

So the middle-aged sea slug oligarch/monarch, sitting all green on xyr emerald seaweed throne, is not as safe from the French Revolution as xe might think.

I suppose that now you have an excuse to use '#kleptoplasty' and '#autotomy' in a story. (-:

#SeaSlugs

’Solar-powered sea slugs’ are able detach their heads and regenerate a whole new body within weeks - BBC Science Focus Magazine

The finding is an extreme example of autotomy – an animal’s ability to shed a body part when under threat.

BBC Science Focus Magazine

Show thread

Alecia Batson (she/her)Dec 7

@alexwild Elysia chlorotica, or Eastern Emerald Elysia, is the cutest little sea #slug that uses algal chloroplasts for #photosynthesis.

#kleptoplasty #solar #notai

📸 Mary Tyler—Mary Rumpho/University of Maine

Simone Aug 5, 2025

Costasiella kuroshimae (also known as a leaf #slug sea sheep, or leaf sheep). #fascinating #animals capable of « #kleptoplasty » : they can sequester the chloroplasts (the organelles where #photosynthesis occurs) from the algae they eats, and let them produce energy for themselves. Their #genome integrates genes useful for the maintenance of the photosynthetic apparatus. All this, while also being cute! (Yes, the black dots are eyes) #science #til #nature

earthling Jun 22, 2025

Leaf sheep, a small sea slug native to the warm tropical waters of southern Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Though they are animals, they indirectly perform photosynthesis in a process called #kleptoplasty, in which they absorb chloroplasts from the algae they eat. Their chemosensory rhinophores look remarkably like the ears of a sheep!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKcuWbTRYuE

via nocturnal-stims

@photography
#SeaSlugs

Dewi Langlet Mar 4, 2025

I'm happy to share this new paper describing long-term kleptoplasty in benthic foraminifera.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225002883
#foraminifera #symbiosis #kleptoplasty

Lukas VFN 🇪🇺Jan 17, 2025

New research on #protists sheds light on #DeepSea energy sources https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/foraminifer/

Array of metabolic pathways in kleptoplastidic #foraminifera supports #chemoautotrophy in dark, euxinic seafloor sediments https://academic.oup.com/ismej/article/19/1/wrae248/7923457 by Fatma Gomaa et al.

"This species takes up unrelated organism’s #chloroplasts — #organelles that perform #photosynthesis... We know #kleptoplasty is happening here, but we needed to understand why this foraminifer is so successful in the dark, without oxygen"

New study provides insight into how some species thrive in dark, oxygen-free environments

New research on single-celled organisms sheds light on deep-sea energy sources

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

ScienceActually May 12, 2024

Leaf Sheep is simply a grazer of algae, and sucks on so much of it that it can photosynthesize. By incorporating the chloroplasts of its favorite food into its own body through a process known as kleptoplasty.

#science #sciencefacts #leafsheep #leafsheepslug #kleptoplasty #photosynthesis