Aww... This Adorable Sea Slug Looks Like A Cartoon Sheep!

Covering more than 70-percent of the Earth’s surface, oceans are home to some truly unusual, yet fascinating, life forms. Like this adorable sea sheep, called Costasiella kuroshimae! Also known as ‘leaf sheep’ or ‘Shaun the sheep’, this curious-looking creature is a type of sea slug, belonging to the sacoglossa clade. With beady little eyes, a pair of floppy feelers and a flat lamb-like face, it looks more like a cute cartoon sheep than a sea slug.

Found all over Japan, Philippines and Indonesia, these tiny phosphorescent animals can grow up to 5 mm in length. They feed on algae, sucking the chloroplasts, from their food, to produce energy for themselves, through a highly unusual phenomenon called kleptoplasty. In this process, the algae are kept alive within the predator’s body, for hours and even months after ingestion. One of the only animal species, in the entire world, that can actually perform photosynthesis, the “solar-powered” leaf sheep can survive for several months on the energy produced by the algal plastids.

Another fascinating sea creature that is currently making the news is Jorunna parva, a species of sea slug belonging to the nudibranchia group of marine mollusks. Endemic to the Indian Ocean, this adorable animal, with its round, fluffy body and cute, wiggly rhinophores, has been likened to a bunny.

Featured Image Source: Jim Lynn