Unicellular "Enigma" Changes From Predator To Plant and Back

Posted by Soulskill on Sunday July 5, 2009 @05:49AM from the i-don't-eat-greens,-food-eats-greens dept.

SilverEar writes "Imagine a creature that swims and preys on others, but once it eats a certain kind of plant, that plant grows inside it, causing the predator to lose its ability to prey and start using sunlight to make its food. Its preying mouth is replaced by an eye that is needed to find sunlight. This is the Hatena ('enigma' in Japanese). The kicker: when Hatena reproduces, one offspring is a peaceful photosynthesizer with the sun-seeking eye, while the other is yet again a predator with a voracious mouth."

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Re:PETA will be confused by dbcad7 · 2009-07-05 15:27 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Exactly, it's stupid.. Would anyone deny their cat or dog meat to eat ? .. It's as if animals should get more rights than a human.. Humans are omnivores they need to get over it already.

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