Leaf Sheep
(Costasiella kuroshimae)

Found in the shallow tropical waters of Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines, the Leaf Sheep is a sea slug barely the size of a grain of rice. Its green, leaf-like body, tiny dark eyes, and two stubby rhinophores on its head give it an uncanny resemblance to a miniature sheep grazing on the algae it lives on.

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When feeding on algae it retains the chloroplasts rather than fully digesting them, incorporating them into its own tissue where they continue to photosynthesize and provide the slug with nutrients directly from sunlight. It is one of the only animals capable of running on solar energy, and can survive for months on light alone after a good meal!