Spotted Salamanders Are the Only Animals to Photosynthesize

Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!

MINI BELIEVE IT OR NOT –

Spotted Salamanders are the only vertebrates capable of photosynthesis, creating oxygen from light-absorbing algae in their cells.

Spotted Salamanders lay their eggs in a thick jelly to stop them from drying out
This jelly stops oxygen from reaching the embryos
The embryos have a symbiotic relationship with a kind of algae
The algae produces oxygen from sunlight, and the embryos process it and produce carbon dioxide for the algae



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Source: Spotted Salamanders Are the Only Animals to Photosynthesize