I ve Seen a Ghost

This pale creature haunts the sea floor near the Philippine island of Luzon. Newly discovered during the California Academy of Sciences? 2011 PhilippineBiodiversity Expedition, this species of sea slug doesn t need ectoplasm (or a shell) to ward off predators. Instead, sea slugs produce toxins to protect themselves. Some of these toxins are quite dangerous: In 2009, five dogs in New Zealand died after eating gray side gilled sea slugs that had washed up on the beach. Ingesting half a teaspoon of gray side gilled slug would kill a human, New Zealand officials said. So while we know it might be tempting, don t eat the slugs.