News Animals

A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body

Yes, planarians too regrow bodies but don’t have as many fancy organs such as a heart

sea slug body next to detached head

The detached head of a sea slug (Elysia cf. marginata) glides by its still-living, leaf-shaped body a day after separation. That body, 80 percent of the animal’s weight, is out of luck. It’s the head that survives, growing a new body.

S. Mitoh

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Read another version of this article at Science News Explores

Losing your body from the neck down can be just another one of life’s annoying, but temporary, setbacks — at least for two kinds of rippling, green-tinged sea slugs.