drb
logo


Impossible Plant-Animal Hybrid


"QUANTUM SHOT" #767
Link - article by Avi Abrams




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.



(images credit: PNAS, via, Nicholas E. Curtis and Ray Martinez, via)

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:


(images credit: Patrick Krug Cataloging Diversity in the Sacoglossa LifeDesk)


What sort of surprises can be found in a humble shallow pool? Turns out, quite an awful lot! Elysia chlorotica likes to inhabit "salt marshes, tidal marshes, pools and shallow creeks, at depths of 0 m to 0.5 m". All this should serve as a good encouragement to look closer into swamps and marshes (provided they are not haunted by any mad scientist apparitions, or the feral Hounds of the Baskervilles). There is positively astonishing microscopic biodiversity to be discovered all around your feet!


(images credit: Patrick Krug, Discover Magazine)


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":

Watch the video here of its feeding off the algae (very appetizing!).




"When it munches on its favorite food - intertidal algae Vaucheria litorea - it holds the algal strand firmly in its mouth and, as though it were a straw, sucks out the contents.

Once a young slug has slurped its first chloroplast algae meal, the slug does not have to eat again for the rest of its life. All it has to do is sunbathe" (source).

Elysia crispata also stores and converts chloroplasts inside its tissues - here is a rare close up view under the hood of this "green machine":


(image credit: Patrick J. Krug)


The more scientific description of this creature sounds impressive enough - "a marine opisthobranch gastropod mollusc" - but its "Elysium" moniker is more intriguing: could there be a connection with Elysium Fields as a mythological concept of afterlife in use in Ancient Greece, and maybe even Eleusinian Mysteries - famous "magical rites-of-passage", highly psychedelic experiences, or rather just herbal drug-induced "highs"... Certainly, the gene magic that this slug demonstrates is worthy of a name related to Eleusinian Mysteries!


It's all in a family: one colorful character after another!

Elysia chlorotica may be the only real fusion of a plant and an animal out there, but it also belongs to fittingly flamboyant family: it's a member of the clade Sacoglossa in the family Placobranchidae, the so-called "sap-sucking sea slugs", as they live by "sucking the sap" from their favorite algae. The members of this clade may superficially resemble nudibranch kind - but they are every bit as bizarre-looking as their more well-known "nudi" cousins!

Here is a sample of sacoglossan's astonishing diversity:


(image credit: Patrick J. Krug)


Elysia chlorotica is related to Elysia ornata, which is truly "ornate" just as the name implies:


(image credit: Mike Severns, via)


Elysia crispata does not have a shell and, because of its fanciful appearance, is also called "The Lettuce Sea Slug":


(image credit: Laszlo Ilyes, via)


(Elysia crispata, image credit: Jim Chambers)


(image credit: Pol Bosch)


(images credit: Ellen Bulger, Jan Hartmann)


The inside of this slug is quite impressive: it looks as an avant-garde painting and would not seem out of place inside any NYC modern art gallery:


(image credit: Terence Zahner)


Here it is, tinged blue and all the more beautiful for it... (left image). On the right is yet another related cutie - Cadinella ornatissima, classified somewhere between nudibranch and sacoglossa kinds:


(images credit: Guillem Mas, Jim Lyle)


More diversity: Cyerce shown left, and Olea hansineensis from Friday Harbor Laboratories, San Juan Island, Washington:


(images credit: Greg Rowse, Moorea BioCode, Patrick Krug)


So... should humans also learn the trick and start "vegetating"?

By now, after hearing about very "stressful" life this creature lives - think about turning green, sunbathing, swimming in energy - you may wonder if one day humans might not develop technology that would turn us into extremely efficient photosynthesis machines?

According to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (via):

"Chloroplasts only contain enough DNA to encode about 10% of the proteins needed to keep themselves running. The other necessary genes are found in the algae's nuclear DNA. So the question has always been, how do they continue to function in an animal cell missing all of these proteins? It seems that the algal gene in E. chlorotica's sex cells could be passed to the next generation. Other animals are able to harness sunlight after eating plants, but this is only because they acquire entire plant cells, which is very different to transforming an animal cell into a solar-powered plant-animal hybrid."

"It is unlikely humans could become photosynthetic in this way... Our digestive tract just chews all that stuff up - the chloroplasts and the DNA"

Article by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend.


CONTINUE TO "CARNIVOROUS PLANTS"! ->

ALSO READ OUR "NATURE" CATEGORY ->





RECENT ARTICLES:

Visual Caffeine #8
Visual Caffeine, Issue 8

A thrilling blend of art, myths and technology

Visual Caffeine #7
Visual Caffeine, Issue 7

A thrilling blend of art, myths and technology

Art Deco
Imperial Dreams: Art Deco Update

Wings, Gears, & Glamorous Ladies

1970s SciFi
DRB Pics-of-the-Day

Grand Space Adventure 1970s Art



"Dark Roasted Blend" - All Kinds of Weird and Wonderful Things, Discovered Daily!"

DRB is a top-ranked and respected source for the best in art, travel and fascinating technology, with a highly eclectic presentation. Our in-depth articles in many categories make DRB a valued online magazine, bringing you quality info and entertainment every time you visit the site - About DRB

Connect with us and become part of DRB on Facebook and Twitter.



YOUR COMMENTS::

5 Comments:

Blogger Kristophr said...

It isn't completely completely independent of feeding.

According to the articles linked, it can live for months on just sunlight, but it does need to feed once in a while ( usually on algae again ) to absorb nutrients for the chlorophyll to produce sugar with.

What is really unique about this slug is that it horizontally transferred to itself the single plant gene needed to actually maintain the chloroplasts, instead of merely digesting them after they do their work.

___  
Blogger Unknown said...

Perhaps the headline would read a little better if you bracketed the word 'Impossible' in commas... since fairly obviously it is most definitely possible.
Yet still a remarkable revelation, and so beautiful to boot.
Thanks

___  
Blogger Seth Elgart said...

There's a science fiction novel by John Scalzi called "Old Man's War," published in 2005, where the soldiers'green-skinned bodies are engineered to use chlorophyll to process sunlight. This allows them to supplement their energy, or if in dire need to live off of sunlight for a short time. I'm a big Scalzi fan, and that book was the first thing I thought of when I read about these slugs.

___  
Blogger CollageNikov2012 said...

This animal is ANYTHING BUT A slacker BECAUSE IT IS A MAGICIAN, a
sentient being that eats, but once, & for the rest of its life it
need not hunt/kill/destroy any other form of life to prolong its survival...the planet would be blessed, if all life had only required one vegan meal of algae &
then lived in peace & harmony thru its relationship with our Sun!!! I
think you owe this unique & perfect
creature an apology by calling it a
"slacker" since its unique characteristic could solve 90% of
human life in this world.

___  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am quite sure i saw Elysia Chlorotica or something that it look exactly like that in Greece today.how can that be ? i read all over the internet that it lives in north america and scotland (?!). please answer me i will die of curiosity :P

___  

Post a Comment

<< Home


SF ART & BOOK REVIEWS:
Don't miss: The Ultimate Guide to NEW SF&F Writers!
Fiction Reviews: Classic Cyberpunk: Extreme Fiction
Short Fiction Reviews: Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" (with pics)
New Fiction Reviews: The Surreal Office



READ OTHER RECENT ARTICLES:


Abandoned, Dieselpunk
DRB Pic-of-the-Day

Abandoned: Streamlined Three-wheeler

Visual Caffeine #6
Visual Caffeine, Issue 6

A thrilling blend of art, myths and technology

Visual Caffeine #5
Visual Caffeine, Issue 5

A thrilling blend of art, myths and technology

Hellish Weather on Other Planets

Wild, Untamed, and Uncut

Medieval Suits of Armor

Metal Body Suits vs. Weapons of Medieval Destruction

World's Strangest Theme Parks

Amusement to the (twisted) extremes!

Enchanting Victorian Fairy Tale Art

"Then world behind and home ahead..."

Adorable Pedal Cars

Collectable Pedal Vehicles Showcase


Japanese Arcades: Gundam Pods & Other Guilty Pleasures

These machines have gone up to the next level


Modernist Tallinn Architecture

Delicious blend of old and new!


Early Supercomputers: A Visual Overview

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons"


Futuristic Concept Cars of the 1970-80s

French, Italian & Japanese rare beauties


Epic 1970s French Space Comic Art

DRB Time-Slice: Valérian and Laureline


The Trees Are Escaping! The Abandoned Prison in French Guiana

"Great Escape" from the Devil's Island



FULL ARCHIVES
(with previews, fast loading):

2022/16
2015/14
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

Link Lattes

Feel-Good & Biscotti Issues





CATEGORIES:
Feel-Good! | airplanes | animals | architecture | art | auto | boats | books | cool ads | famous | futurism | food
gadgets | health | japan | internet | link latte | military | music | nature | photo | russia | steampunk
sci-fi & fantasy | signs | space | technology | trains | travel | vintage | weird | abandoned