should I even show this yet got a new tattoo yesterday I didn't finish it because this hurt a lot especially when it got into the armpit but finally finishing my sleeve I'm adding some plants I've got bird of paradise going on and a palm leaf I don't know when I'm going to finish it now because now I know what the armpit feels like and it sucks anyway today I'm introducing you to one of my favorite animals cheetah will always be number one because of the lore but there's one group that when I first learned about in college shocked Me by how badass they are the sea slugs when you first hear sea slug your brain probably goes to something like this a generic slug in the ocean objectively gross but that is absolutely not the case sea slugs are vibrant colorful some are objectively cute and many have abilities that I still can't wrap my head around to this Deb a very big part of me feels like they can't possibly exist they're too good to be true and soon you'll see why so buckle up and allow me to introduce you to your new favorite group of animals and if you say they're not you're a godamn liar as always let's get the general information out of the way by starting off with the technicality technically the animals that I'm introducing you two are called nud Brinks A specific group of sea slugs the name nbran translates to naked gills which is just what the [ __ ] these sea slugs got going on generally exposed gills on the outsides of their bodies on their backs for the sake of this video when I say sea slugs I mean nter braks unless I say so because nud branks are sea slugs but just keep in mind that not all sea slugs are nud branks so sea slugs are found in oceans all around the world mostly in Shallow tropical waters and they are also very small about 2 in long in general some get to like 2 2 ft long but they are exceptions big exceptions mostly they are extremely little gods and like I said they are vibrant colorful absolutely dazzling in some cases this serves as camouflage in others it serves as something called aposematism aposematism how did I say it was pronounced last time feel like I went back and forth aposematism aposematism [ __ ] you say aposematic so then it must be aposematism Ematic yeah which you might remember from the episode of what the [ __ ] is this that was just a series of people touching things they should a touch they they chill it was in fact not chill when it comes to the Animal Kingdom A good rule to live by is if it looks like an acid trip it could send you on an acid trip and a bad one at that bright colors usually indicate something is toxic disgusting or otherwise foul if you choose to indulge and this rule exists on a spectrum for sees SLU some are pretty harmless While others have the power to make you see the light as I will show you in a bit also worth mentioning that their fossil record is garbage matter of fact it's non-existent as you can see they are softbed to [ __ ] and small and softb to [ __ ] are the two worst qualities to have checked off if you want to be dug out of the ground millions of years from now but honestly I think that's pretty cool and kind of crazy to think about if they didn't exist today we would just have no idea they ever existed so what else do we not know about you know that's just crazy to think about so just keep that in mind because as I show you some sea slugs you'll probably remember that and be like holy [ __ ] times two because this is cool and also what else existed like this that we'll never know about also Last Thing Before showing you the nter branks they're all hermaphroditic they have both male and female parts so they can conveniently bang anyone and objectively that's probably the best situation to be in in the animal kingdom so round of applause for them we're going to start off with the one you are most likely to like objectively the cutest one on the list about a year and a half ago I had you guys vote on what traits make an animal objectively cute you came up with small fluffy and rant and this sea slug is the trifecta the sea bunny as you can see small fluffy and rant that's the cutest [ __ ] thing I've ever seen in my entire life at first glance there's a chance you're thinking this cannot possibly exists it is too perfect to be real but yet it is the sea bunny is an inch long NBR first discovered in 1938 off the coast of Japan which honestly is very on brand it's like the Hello Kitty of nud branks but as you would expect from a small Marine invertebrate the sea bunny is not covered in true fur or fluff but instead something arguably even cooler kopia tiny sensory structures that just so happen to get arranged in a way that is absolutely darling and their bunny ears are not actual ears but Rhino Force which are similar to ears in the sense that they sense something but instead of sound they sense chemicals chemical ears if you will to locate Friends food and fol and the bunny tail is the naked lung situation I told you about earlier it's how they breathe so they got a lot of cool [ __ ] going on that just so happens to be arranged in a way that's objectively cute but unlike other bunnies sea bunnies do not eat plants their food situation is a bit unusual they eat toxic sponges a bit disgusting if you ask me but in doing so they become toxic themselves so what the [ __ ] does that mean this is the whole thing about Nutter branks that seem seems too cool to be true you know how people say you are what you eat well many Nutter branks take that seriously I wanted to show you the SE bunny first to kind of get your guard down appeal to your ethos and now I want to explain what the [ __ ] I meant by that with a different kind of sea slck the aid nud Brinks as you can see they are sick looking rather than the tiny fluffy caridia all over the sea bunny the aola nutter branks have sarata covering their bodies much more prominent much more metal just totally and completely badass a neuter branks like to eat midians a massive group called a philm that incl animals like jellyfish CA and EMES Coral Etc one thing about this group is they are notorious for their defense mechanism stinging cells called neatus probably familiar with them if you ever got stung by a jellyfish at the beach they're very small but they have this little coiled threadlike structure that acts like a trip wire when it's triggered this little Harpoon called a neatus tubal gets shot at penetrates the pret or predator's skin and injects different types of toxins into the target but aola Nutter branks are not phased by this defense at all nope they seek it out they yearn for it they eat it unharmed but then absorb it into their bodies store it at the very tips of their sarata to use as their own defense later on dude they take the praise defense mechanism say [ __ ] you and your entire family eat it and save it to use for later what the [ __ ] I think that's the coolest thing ever imagine if we could do that that would be so sick eat a puffer fish and then poke someone and send them to the ER actually that would not be sick that would be devastating there was probably a better example able to use for that uh imagine if you could eat a fish and then suddenly have gills and swim underwater that would be sick but anyway that is all to say that the sea bunnies have a similar situation with the toxic sponge they eat the toxic sponge then suddenly they become toxic in the way the toxic sponge is toxic so another point for SE bunnies being the coolest now back to the aits I want to show you some specific species that I think that you will like like the chocolate AIT they don't eat chocolate that we know of but they definitely look like they do and their scientific name is Cella coca chroma which I just love coca chroma sounds like a vacation drink like a p colada with chocolate in it this one doesn't have a common name but it's called pH desium iot I think it needs a name it is so cool I'm personally leaning towards C snowflake cuz their sarata kind of look like snowflake designs they look like a winter wonderland in the form of a sea slug let me know if you agree or if you have any other suggestions next The Undertaker nter brick which was discovered pretty recently in 2018 in the deep sea the Monteray Bay Aquarium Research Institute announced a discovery said the slug was found under some whalebones so they must have been hanging out at a whale forall which are little temporary a seas in the deep sea created by the death of a whale sinks to the bottom becomes a big Feast for all the deep sea Misfits one of them in this case being the Undertaker NBR whale fall Falls are one of the many examples of nature being metal as [ __ ] and also they are on my list to cover in a long form format just so you know all right the next slug on the list is not an aoid it kind of has the same [ __ ] going on as an aoid times 10 or possibly times 100 the blue dragon one from that what the [ __ ] is this episode that I mentioned earlier I couldn't not highlight them in this video they are obviously stunning and as long as you stay the [ __ ] away from them they serve as another great candidate for your favorite sea SL so let me break it down the blue dragon or Glaucus atlanticus very pointy name I like it a lot is a patite inch long nud Brank that is obviously stunning they look like something out of spine world the greatest online gam to ever exist period or they look like something out of perhaps an acid trip I.E something you should avoid if you remember what I said cuz they will [ __ ] your [ __ ] up if need be like the AOL and nanks the blue dragon has an appetite for the wicked but this time much more heinous cuz they like to eat the Portuguese man of war which you might be familiar with from a variety of viral videos of people touching them licking them caressing them another profane ax that should put them on a list I don't know what kind of list but a list cuz a man of war will rock your [ __ ] like nobody's business their tentacles can get to over a 100 ft long and deliver excruciatingly painful stings that on rare occasion can be deadly they are nigarian in the same philm as jellyfish and anemones so they have those stinging pneumatosis as well but much more potent able to send a full-size human to the ER and on rare occasion to their death but somehow this is not stop the inch long blue dragon no this is their bread and butter just like the AIDS they are not only immune to The Stingers but recycle them for their own use sorting them through the digestive gland and storing them at the tips of their sarata for defense later on after just a quick bite to eat this tiny beautiful specimen becomes one of the deadliest creatures in the ocean and I find that inspiring I think that's very cool I wish we could do something something like that but in a way that's productive to society you know like imagine if we could do that with celery or just plants in general like eat a plant then suddenly we can go outside and photosynthesize make food from the Sun solar powered people how cool would that be which brings me to my next example of a slug that can do just that the leaf sheep sea slug has the same kind of [ __ ] going on as the aid and the blue dragon but this time with plants they eat algae then recycle the chloroplasts store them in their sarata and suddenly become kind of half plant half animal able to photosynthesize and make energy for themselves for up to about 10 days photosynthesis photosynthesis this is called kleptoplasty which essentially means the ability to steal chloroplasts and use them for yourself kleptoplasty I didn't realize until I started researching for this video that the leaf sheep is not technically a nudle Brink they belong to a different group of sea slugs that have similar [ __ ] going on as nudle Brinks called sacko glossin lots of sacko glossin have this photosynthetic ability and many species blur the line between plant and animal even more I mean not actually cuz they are definitely animals like this one Alisia cloa there is no denying they look like a leaf and they can photosynthesize for a very long time like up to a year after taking chloroplast from algae only a couple times so honestly just another example of nature never giving [ __ ] to you straight another cool relative with the same [ __ ] going on is Alicia crispata Alisia crispata also known as a lettuce Slug and another one Alisia orat and another one Alisia timida I like what this group brings to the table they are very dazzling you know as you would expect from such a cool animal with a cool ability scientists are researching the [ __ ] out of it trying to figure out how they do the things they do so that maybe we could do something similar in some sort of fashion at some point and they especially look at the leaf looking one elisia chlorotica because they not only recycle the chloroplast and use them for a bit no like I said they hang on to them for a while nurture them give them a nice one bed one bath to not only live in but thrive in which is something that physiologically only plants should be able to do plants have the structures to provide chloroplast with the things they need like Pro proteins which makes sense chloroplasts are plant things and plants are very different from animals but somehow these animals are providing these things too they're providing plant structures as an animal so how remember how in the brine pool's video I mentioned bacteria how they are very cool because they can get genes from each other among other things which is essentially the equivalent of me high-fiving someone with blue eyes and suddenly I have blue eyes it's called horizontal Gene transfer it's something that bacteria do [ __ ] all the time and it seems as though it played a role in this sea slug's ability to chloroplasts how exactly I couldn't even begin to tell you horizontal Gene transfer is like cell biology [ __ ] and if you know me I don't [ __ ] with cell [ __ ] I want to I just have a very hard time grasping it at this moment in time so just know at some point they were able to take plant genes and incorporate them into their own genome kind of actually becoming part plant I guess if you want to read more about it here's the paper I was looking at and if you're into sell [ __ ] and you read the paper maybe uh leave a comment and let us know what the [ __ ] is going on I would love if you did that and now we're going to move on so just a couple miscellaneous honorable mentions there really is no sea slug you cannot love like check this one out the Lion's man nter BR they have a mouth like a neck to trap their prey and apparently they emit an odor reminiscent of Watermelon candy pretty cool next the Spanish dancer one of the larger nud branks getting up to about a foot long quite flamboyant in their movements like a flamco skirt next gonio branis reticula they don't have a common name but you should know them as the Disposable penis nink because they have a disposable penis what every time they mate they only use a little bit of it and then that little bit breaks off it's like segmented like those pencils from back in the day you know those segmented pencils from the 2000s so you know that's another one and the donut nud Brink I want to eat this one it looks like an exotic pasta dish it looks delicious they belong to the genus doto which also includes species like the bubble nbran doto USI and doto Bella which are also very cute and that's it that's sea slugs that I hope you liked there's plenty more if I didn't name your favorite if you have one already let us know what it is in the comments I love nud Brinks and I would love if you told me about some other ones that I might not know about yet so I want to give a little hint to next week's episode it's the next episode of the history of life on Earth we're out of dinosaur territory on to better things I may or may not have some merch coming out that day it may or may not include some stuff that you may or may not have been asking for for about a year ever since it was first released about a year ago it may or may not be making a comeback along with other things that you might like even more maybe you'll like all of them so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss that announcement in the next episode of the history of life on Earth that we know of keep up with behind the scenes updates on patreon where you can also check out our Discord server and for now stay curious the world has a lot for us to learn see you [Music]