Abstract:

As the saying goes, you are what you eat. While humans don’t literally transform into their food, some animals are adept at kleptoplasty — the incredible ability to extract and utilize functional organelles from their prey. These creatures aren’t world-eating aliens; they live in the ocean and rarely exceed a few centimeters in length! Meet the remarkable sea slugs. Dive with me into their wonderful world, where eating algae enables photosynthesis and preying on jellyfish bestows a deadly sting.