There’s something so magical about stumbling across a nudibranch on a dive, but when you spot a lettuce nudibranch, it’s like finding a living salad drifting through the reef. With their frilly, leafy edges and vibrant green colors, they look exactly like a piece of lettuce come to life, seriously, Mother Nature was feeling extra playful when she designed these little guys.
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Lettuce nudibranchs are actually a type of sacoglossan sea slug, not a “true” nudibranch. But who’s counting? They’ve got the same bright colors and laid-back vibe. They’re especially famous for their kleptoplasty superpower: they literally “steal” chloroplasts from the algae they eat!
How does that work? When the lettuce nudibranch munches on algae, it keeps the chloroplasts (the parts of the plant that do photosynthesis) alive in its own tissues. This lets them use sunlight to make some of their own energy, just like a plant! It’s like having a built-in solar panel. Pretty neat, right?
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