Sea Slug
edyong | December 28, 2008Solar power is a relatively new development for humans but, of course, many living things have been exploiting the power of the sun for millions of years, through the process of photosynthesis. This ability is usually limited to plants, algae and bacteria, but one unique animal can do it too - the emerald green sea slug Elysia chlorotica. This remarkable creature steals the genes and photosynthetic factories of a type of algae that it eats (Vaucheria littorea), so that it can independently draw energy from the sun. Through genetic thievery, it has become a solar-powered animal and a…
cwilcox | November 25, 2008In the animal world, the ability to live off of solar power is virtually unheard of. Sure, most would say corals do it, but the truth is that the corals themselves aren't the ones soaking up the sun - it's tiny dinoflagellates called 'zooxanthellae' that actually perform the photosynthesis. In fact, that is the case with most other arguments for solar-powered animals. Most have some form of plant-like symbiont doing the hard work for them.
Not so with the green sea slug Elysia chlorotica, claims biologist James Manhart and his colleagues at Texas A&M University who have been studying the…
zooillogix | March 4, 2008Don't usually do this but the Wikipedia Picture of the Day is just too cool.
Glaucus atlanticus
Info from Wikipedia: These two Glaucus atlanticus, a species of nudibranch, were washed up on Surfers Paradise Beach in Queensland, Australia. The larger one is about 35 mm (1.4 in) in length. G. atlanticus preys on the Portuguese Man o' War and other surface-dwelling sea animals. Occasionally Glaucus will feed on others of its kind.
This guy looks like a ship from Star Trek... or so I would imagine if I ever watched that kind of show... The fact that they prey on Portugese Man of Wars makes them…
zooillogix | October 10, 2007The Qatar National History Group, a Qatari (Qatarian, Qatarese?), nature outing group, recently discovered what is believed to be a new species of sea slug. The pictures of the colorful critter were reviewed by Dr. Bill Rudman, head of the Sea Slug Forum, and he believes it bears resemblance to a sea slug last seen in Pakistan a century ago. Perhaps more even more interesting, was Zooillogix's discovery of the existence of the Sea Slug Forum, which has an exhaustive collection sea slug pictures and aqua-slug related links. Spend a few minutes perusing this awesome collection and make your…