When I think of salamanders, I think dark caves, deep burrows and mud. But apparently they are more in touch with the sun than previously thought.

The Common Spotted Salamander has been discovered to be the first photosynthetic vertebrate, a title previously left to plant life, bacteria and a few inverts. From MNN.com:

t turns out that researchers just weren't looking closely enough. While studying a batch of salamander embryos, scientist Ryan Kerney of Dalhousie University saw something different than the prevailing dogma would suggest — a bright green color coming from inside their cells.

That color usually indicates the presence of chlorophyll, which is the light-absorbing green pigment that makes photosynthesis possible.

"On a lark, I decided to take a long-exposure fluorescent image of a pre-hatchling salamander embryo," said Kerney. After backing that experiment up using transmission electron microscopy, he confirmed his suspicion. There were algal symbionts located inside the salamander cells.

In fact, the symbiotic partners were often found bordering mitochondria, organelles responsible for generating a cell's energy. Thus, it's likely that the mitochondria were taking direct advantage of the oxygen and carbohydrate, byproducts of photosynthesis that were generated by the algae.

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