The amazing brilliant emerald green slug has the ability to live off only sunlight for months.

How did the slug gain this incredible ability? It acquired it from the algae it eats by incorporating their genes and chloroplast. Chloroplast are the organelles in plants which gives them the ability to live off sunlight. The slug’s cells absorb the cells of the algae and make the chloroplasts part of its own cell. Since the slugs also take the genes of the algae, they are able to repair and maintain the chloroplast.

The incredible ability to photosynthesize allows the slug to sustain itself on sunlight for long periods of time if normal food sources are scarce. Even when food is plentiful, the slugs are able to use less energy than non-photosynthesizing slugs looking for food as sunlight provides a portion of its energy needs.

The brilliant emerald green sea slug is one of the few known examples of successful gene transfers from one species to another.

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