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Photosynthesizing
​Sea Slugs

​So we all know what sets plants apart from animals, right?  They photosynthesize.  The whole system is dependent on it, right?  We tell the kids that all the time.  So, just when we thought we had it right. . . . .  Enter Elysia chlorotica:  the Photosynthesizing Sea Slug.  Oh, but it’s so much smarter!  Special genes allow the slug to steal chloroplasts from algae.  The slug eats the algae and imbeds the chloroplasts in its own digestive tract where they photosynthesize for the slug for up to nine months—considerably longer than they would in the original algae.  I just love science.