These Cute Sea Slugs Are The Sheep Of The Sea

Well, prepare to immediately forget about them as you’re overwhelmed by the cuteness of these sea slugs that look like sheep.

Native to the coasts of Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, this sea slug Costasiella kuroshimae (also known as a ‘leaf slug’) has a cartoonish, sheep-like face with blushing cheeks and beautiful plumage all over its body, like a small foliage of leaves. It can grow up to 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) long.

^{Lynn Wu}

This species of sacoglossan sea slug also has another strange similarity to leaves: It can photosynthesize through kleptoplasty. While eating algae, some sacoglossan sea slugs retain the chloroplasts to create their own energy. They aren’t very good at it, but some species of sea slug can live for months on this alone.

Just like leaves, these sea slugs also come in many different shapes and colors.

^{Lynn Wu}

^{Lynn Wu}

C. kuroshimae has no other connection to sheep, just looks a bit like one.

Check out this video of a leaf slug in action.