Sheep Of The Sea Are Cutest Slugs We've Ever Seen

It’s a sheep! It’s a cow! No, it’s Costasiella kuroshimae (or ‘Leaf Sheep’ for short). This adorable little sea slug, whose beady eyes and cute feelers make it look like a cartoon sea sheep, feeds on algae – just like the real thing.

It's the algae that give them their special powers. When they consume algae they suck out the chloroplasts to store in their own bodies for energy using a process known as kleptoplasty. Usually only single-celled organisms are capable of this process but the leaf sheep is a special species that is literally a solar-powered slug. As part of the sacoglossan sea slug clade they are among the only known animals capable of photosynthesis.