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Mint Sauce Worms Use Photosynthesis

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Mar 01, 2016 02:09 PM EST

Here is an interesting mint sauce worm with some strange and unusual habits. Found on the Atlantic coast, the worm is studied for its awesome skill to mimic plant life by ingesting the sun's rays for harnessing energy, apart from other unique traits, according to various reports.

With the use of the algae in their bodies, the mint sauce worms, or Symsagittifera roscoffensis, synthesise their kinds of photosynthesis, which blurs the distinction between plant and animal. Researchers call it a model organism as it is able to live off the sun's energy. This may even indicate some ways of moving towards stem cell regeneration.

Their communication skills are also above par. Professor Nigel Franks with the University of Bristol notes that they have a "self-organizing" social behavior, and the entire unit communicates and wants to move as a group towards a goal, according to a press release.

"Our study suggests this remarkable organism also seems to be an ideal model for understanding how individual behaviours can lead, through collective movement, to social assemblages," said Franks.

Nigel's research showed that the social structure of the organism is its ability to enhance its security.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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