(urth) Today, a Sea Slug. Tomorrow, ... ?

Jeff Wilson jwilson at io.com
Sun Jan 17 18:44:49 PST 2010


> Severian's friend the Green Man always seemed quite plausible to me. I
> hadn't realized just how plausible. Apparently a sea slug has
> incorporate algae genes into its genome and produces and uses
> chlorophyll inside its body:
>
> http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/53496/title/Sea_slug_steals_genes_for_greens,_makes_chlorophyll_like_a_plan

There's still a question of him being able to intercept enough sunlight to
be more active than a slug. A man-sized silhouette in Earthly conditions
intercepts less than 100 calories worth of sunlight a day. From the Green
Man's sunny smile, his people apparently still have humanlike teeth, so
presumably they can eat a variety of food to make up the deficit, but I'm
not sure if reducing your food needs by 1/30 is worth the hassle.

It might be that the chlorophyll isn't strictly for food, but for sensory
purposes; can anyone think of an occasion when the Green Man would need to
be able to feel a shadow falling on him, or would have to distinguish
between bright lights of different character?




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