They're incorporated into the epithelial cells lining Elysia's digestive system that branches throughout its flat body.

它们被整合到绿叶海天牛消化系统的上皮细胞中，并广泛分布在它扁平的身体上。

But these first eukaryotic plants were soon consumed by other animals, which hijacked the precious chloroplast, just like Elysia.

但这些最早的真核植物很快就被其他动物吃掉了，并被劫持了珍贵的叶绿体，就像绿叶海天牛一样。

Elysia is what's called a mixotroph: it can both consume food, like animals, and produce its own through photosynthesis, like plants.

绿叶海天牛是一种混合营养生物，它可以像动物一样消费食物，也可以通过光合作用自己制造食物。

In fact, Elysia steals its ability to photosynthesize from the algae it eats by piercing the algal cells with specialized pointy teeth, called radula.

实际上，绿叶海天牛的光合作用的能力是“偷”的它通过进食藻类，并咬破藻类细胞用它被成为“齿舌”，特别的尖牙。

The processes by which Elysia becomes photosynthetic and Tripos switches between feeding modes are reminiscent of what scientists believe led to the origin of all plants.

绿叶海天牛进行光合作用的能力以及角藻在不同进食模式之间切换的过程被科学家认为是所有植物起源的标志。

Elysia chlorotica may not look like much — okay, it looks like a bright green leaf — but it's one of the most extraordinary creatures around.

绿叶海天牛可能看起来不那么——好吧，他确实看起来像一片翠绿的叶子——但它是这片环境中最不寻常的生物之一。

What makes Elysia and a few closely related species in the Mediterranean and Pacific unique is how long they can hold onto chloroplasts — most other slugs keep them for a few weeks at most.

让绿叶海天牛及少数相近种群，成为地中海和太平洋中独一无二的存在，它们能够将叶绿体保存的足够久——其他大部分的鼻涕虫最多能保存几周。