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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Sea slug surprise: It’s half-plant, half-animal - LiveScience

A green sea slug appears to be part animal, part plant. It's the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll.

The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis — the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy.

"They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything," said Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Posted via web from poobumwee's posterous

1 comment:

River said...

I always wondered what sea slugs looked like, just never cared enough to google the images. interesting about the chlorophyl.