![]() The plumage here is greenish, which is another reason for the name. Some even say that the ‘face’ of this sea slug is like a sheep, with a lovely plumage and pinkish cheeks. They hence make for more interesting pictures and videos as well. east coast where the Eastern Emerald Elysia sea slugs live. The leaf or sheep sea slug actually looks quite pretty when the algae are processing inside of it. If you don’t have the time or means to make it to the land of the rising sun, another option you can explore is the U.S. These tiny sea slugs are hard to spot underwater but what makes them even harder to find for most people is that they’re only found in the waters around Japan. And literally every other part of them looks like a leaf. It is found off the coast of several islands in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They can even perform photosynthesis and turn sunlight into food The leaf sheep is a type of sea slug and is around 5mm long. Looking at the Costasiella kuroshimae their “leaf sheep” nickname becomes very understandable – with their “faces” comprising of just two black eyes, a flat mouth, and two cute “horns”, they do look like a sheep-like caricature. A leaf sheep, is, in my opinion, one of the weirdest animals in the animal kingdom. If you want to see them walking about looking for algae, check out this YouTube clip. However, the leaf sheep keeps busy too as they need to eat algae from time to time to keep their supply of chloroplasts up. If you’re wondering whether it’s boring to just stand and photosynthesize for most of your day, then yes – that does sound boring. The plumage comes in different colors and shapes. If you look at their tiny bodies, you will notice that they look like a cluster of leaves. Once the algae chloroplasts have become unusable, which they do after several months seeing how they’re not technically “natural” to the slugs, the leaf sheep simply eats some more algae and the whole process restarts itself. Leaf sheep are 5 mm long and thrive in shallow waters in Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan.Using the “stolen” algae chloroplasts, the leaf sheep can effectively photosynthesize for a period of several weeks to several months, removing any need for eating anything else during that period.Instead of digesting all the algae, these sea slugs use kleptoplasty to incorporate the algae chloroplasts into their own leaf-like outer flesh appendages, also known as cerata.The leaf sheep sea slugs eat algae every once in a while just like many other sea creatures.
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