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Impossible Plant-Animal Hybrid
Dark Roasted Blend ^
| April 24, 2012
| Avi Abrams
Posted on 04/27/2012 6:39:13 PM PDT by Windflier
Wildly bizarre half-plant/half-animal creature - with a lovely name "Eastern Emerald Elysia"
This beautiful leaf-shaped sea slug Elysia chlorotica lives in shallow pools along Atlantic coast of North America, eats algae with gusto - one meal is enough for its lifetime! - and by using photosynthesis like any other plant, shatters the most basic definition between the "animal" and "plant" kingdoms.
It may not be "easy being green", but for this slug it turned out to be highly efficient!
This is the ONLY natural example of genes shared between the living kingdoms of "plants" and "animals"
Shaped like a leaf? Check. Totally colored green? Check, although the young slugs are still colored brown until they eat their first "green" meal... but right after that, they're ready to make pigment chlorophyll a all by themselves for the rest of their lives!
One thing about Elysia chlorotica, "a sea slug that has stolen enough genes to become the first animal shown to make chlorophyll like a plant" (via)... They don't just use chloroplasts from the algae they eat - this phenomenon, though rare, is known as kleptoplasty. What's more, they seem to have the particular genes that make them able to keep processing these chloroplasts in a consistent and sustainable way:
Elysia chlorotica likes to inhabit "salt marshes, tidal marshes, pools and shallow creeks, at depths of 0 m to 0.5 m".
(Excerpt) Read more at darkroastedblend.com ...
TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Outdoors; Science
KEYWORDS: strange
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Talk about true "slacker" of the animal kingdom!
Consider Elysia chlorotica: when it comes to consuming chloroplasts, one slurping is enough! "It's the ultimate form of solar power: eat a plant ONCE, become photosynthetic for the rest of your life":
1
posted on
04/27/2012 6:39:23 PM PDT
by
Windflier
To: Windflier
Isn’t the Earth a plant/animal hybrid?
To: All
Posted solely for the sake of diversion from the never-ending, soul crushing seriousness of the 2012 campaign.
Take a break and contemplate the exotic strangeness of planet Earth.
3
posted on
04/27/2012 6:42:12 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: FedsRStealingOurCountryFromUs
Isnt the Earth a plant/animal hybrid? Only if GM builds it ;-)
4
posted on
04/27/2012 6:43:37 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
That is fascinating! Thanks for posting. I’d heard of anything quite like this.
5
posted on
04/27/2012 6:45:52 PM PDT
by
JimSEA
To: JimSEA
That is fascinating! Thanks for posting. You're welcome, Jim. I thought it was sufficiently interesting to share. Glad you enjoyed it.
6
posted on
04/27/2012 6:49:30 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: FedsRStealingOurCountryFromUs
7
posted on
04/27/2012 6:51:55 PM PDT
by
Louis Foxwell
(The day liberals grow up is the day tyranny ends.)
To: JimSEA
8
posted on
04/27/2012 6:52:16 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
To: Windflier
Are they hermaphroditic, too?
9
posted on
04/27/2012 6:54:54 PM PDT
by
txhurl
(Thank you, Andrew Breitbart. In your untimely passing, you have exposed these people one last time.)
To: Windflier
It's more common tha you think.
10
posted on
04/27/2012 6:58:47 PM PDT
by
SampleMan
(Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
To: txhurl
Are they hermaphroditic, too? Oh man, don't start with that. You're liable to draw Laz to the thread .. LOL
11
posted on
04/27/2012 7:00:00 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
Algae, slugs? Hey nobama, over here.
12
posted on
04/27/2012 7:04:03 PM PDT
by
upchuck
(Need is not an acceptable lifestyle choice; dependent is not a career. ~ Dr. Tim Nerenz)
To: SampleMan
It's more common than you think.
13
posted on
04/27/2012 7:04:08 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
How does this differ from the photosynthesizing Euglena?
14
posted on
04/27/2012 7:06:51 PM PDT
by
Chaguito
To: Windflier
Only if GM builds it ;-) Wouldn't it be a GMO then?
15
posted on
04/27/2012 7:07:16 PM PDT
by
null and void
(Day 1193 of America's ObamaVacation from reality [Heroes aren't made Frank, they're cornered...])
To: upchuck; NObama
Algae, slugs? Hey nobama, over here.
16
posted on
04/27/2012 7:07:47 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Chaguito
How does this differ from the photosynthesizing Euglena? Or the Venus Flytrap, for that matter....
Dunno, but it's better than beating my head against the wall about the election tonight.
17
posted on
04/27/2012 7:09:45 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: null and void
"Only if GM builds it ;-)"
Wouldn't it be a GMO then?
Looks like a re-classification may be in order!
18
posted on
04/27/2012 7:14:42 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
To: Windflier
19
posted on
04/27/2012 7:19:13 PM PDT
by
Wilhelm Tell
(True or False? This is not a tag line.)
To: Wilhelm Tell
That is amazing. Our whole universe is pretty amazing. I'm continually surprised at the sorts of things scientists discover these days. Despite the political bs, we live in a fairly wondrous age.
20
posted on
04/27/2012 7:30:46 PM PDT
by
Windflier
(To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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