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SELF-DECAPITATING BEHAVIOR SEEN IN SEA SLUGS

​The body they leave behind dies.

Autotomy, the voluntary shedding of a body part, is fairly widespread in the animal kingdom, and is generally followed by the regeneration of shed terminal body parts, but now, two japan researches have found a extrem case of autotomy in photosynthetic sea slugs.

Under lab conditions, two species of Elysia sea slugs - know by their capacity to use chloroplasts from algal food into their cells to utilise for photosynthesis- were infected with parasites, after that, sea slugs self-decapitated, suggesting they do it to get rid of parasites.

According to researchers, the head, separated from body and organs, moves on its own immediately after the separation (as the GIF shown). Within days, the wound at the back of the head is closed, while the head feeds on algaes. At the first week the head starte the body regeneration, and by the third week, regeneration is completed.

- Head and the body of Elysia cf. marginata, a day after autotomy. The shed body is much heavier (>80% of the total weight) than the head. Photo by Sayaka Mitoh.

Researchers Believe the slugs may use the photosynthetic ability of chloroplasts they incorporate from the algae in their diet, a proccess called kleptoplasty, to survive long enough for regeneration.

These findings in sea slugs represent a new type of autotomy in which animals with complex body plans shed most of their body.

Reference (Open Access): Mitoh and Yusa. 2021. Extreme autotomy and regeneration of the whole body in photosynthetic sea slugs. Current Biology.

Gif: Movement of Elysia cf. marginata  after induced autotomy.

WE DID IT YALL

shoutouts @lapislazuli @ominarii yall are the best

pick one you bald genderless idiot

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glimpse into my beautiful imaginary world where arthropods are really big and we domesticated them

edit: people are starting to say some "my worst nightmare" or "eeeww no that one is yucky and scary" comments on this like they do on any bug post and id like to say. it's fine if you don't like bugs it's fine if you're scared of bugs but don't put that on MY post clearly talking about how much i like them and how cute i think they are. you can make your own damn post about how much you hate wasps or spiders or whatever. i'm blocking people who make these kinds of comments.

2014-05-07