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This (not quite) just in: Spotted Salamanders are real-life Grass-types.
Algal symbionts. ALGAL FUCKING SYMBIONTS. Well, it was known that the algae have a form of symbiosis with Salamander embryos, but it was thought that it's an external thing. As it turns out - the algae also live INSIDE the salamander and they seem to link up with the Mitochondria, supporting each other like in freaking CELLCRAFT.
Ohmygods. That is so cool.
Another real-life-grass-type-related phenomenon is that of Kleptoplasty, which seems to be common in certain Sacoglossan sea slugs such as Elysia chlorotica.
See, there are quite a few animals that absorb and store toxins from their prey an become poisonous themselves. Sea slugs have been known to go beyond storing the chemicals in their raw form and actually selectively incorporate complete elements from their prey and utilize their functionality. A perfect example would be Glaucus atlanticus, a nudibranch sea slug merely 5-8 cm in length which preys on jellyfish and siphonophores - colonial organisms that are frequently mistaken for jellyfish, the most prominent example of which is Physalia physalis or as it is most commonly known, the Portugese Man O' War.
For the uninitiated, Physalia are pretty big creatures, with tentacles that can reach up to 22 meters (though they commonly reach ten meters. THAT IS STILL FUCKING LONG) ripe with nematocysts capable of delivering very painful (to humans) toxic stings. These things can stay potent even on detached arms or dead specimens for up to a few days.
Glaucus eats them. Whole. And it is capable of selectively incorporating their nematocysts into itself, deliberately choosing only the most potent ones, thus being capable of delivering a more powerful toxic sting than the Physalia in which they originated!
But I digress. Kleptoplasty is kinda like that, but with Chloroplasts. And apparently Elysia chlorotica noms on algae and incorporates their chloroplasts, providing itself with a little photosynthetic boost to its energy supplies.
... See. It's crazy awesome shit like this that made me into the biology freak I am in the first place XD
Algal symbionts. ALGAL FUCKING SYMBIONTS. Well, it was known that the algae have a form of symbiosis with Salamander embryos, but it was thought that it's an external thing. As it turns out - the algae also live INSIDE the salamander and they seem to link up with the Mitochondria, supporting each other like in freaking CELLCRAFT.
Ohmygods. That is so cool.
Another real-life-grass-type-related phenomenon is that of Kleptoplasty, which seems to be common in certain Sacoglossan sea slugs such as Elysia chlorotica.
See, there are quite a few animals that absorb and store toxins from their prey an become poisonous themselves. Sea slugs have been known to go beyond storing the chemicals in their raw form and actually selectively incorporate complete elements from their prey and utilize their functionality. A perfect example would be Glaucus atlanticus, a nudibranch sea slug merely 5-8 cm in length which preys on jellyfish and siphonophores - colonial organisms that are frequently mistaken for jellyfish, the most prominent example of which is Physalia physalis or as it is most commonly known, the Portugese Man O' War.
For the uninitiated, Physalia are pretty big creatures, with tentacles that can reach up to 22 meters (though they commonly reach ten meters. THAT IS STILL FUCKING LONG) ripe with nematocysts capable of delivering very painful (to humans) toxic stings. These things can stay potent even on detached arms or dead specimens for up to a few days.
Glaucus eats them. Whole. And it is capable of selectively incorporating their nematocysts into itself, deliberately choosing only the most potent ones, thus being capable of delivering a more powerful toxic sting than the Physalia in which they originated!
But I digress. Kleptoplasty is kinda like that, but with Chloroplasts. And apparently Elysia chlorotica noms on algae and incorporates their chloroplasts, providing itself with a little photosynthetic boost to its energy supplies.
... See. It's crazy awesome shit like this that made me into the biology freak I am in the first place XD
