Symsagittifera roscoffensis, also called the Roscoff worm, the mint-sauce worm, or the shilly-shally worm, is a marine flatworm belonging to the phylum Xenacoelomorpha. The origin and nature of the green color of this worm stimulated the curiosity of zoologists early on. It is due to the partnership between the animal and a green micro-algae, the species Tetraselmis convolutae, hosted under its epidermis. It is the photosynthetic activity of the micro-algae in hospite that provides the essential nutrients for the worm. This partnership is called photosymbiosis, from "photo", "light", and symbiosis "who lives with". These photosynthetic marine animals live in colonies (up to several million individuals) on the tidal zone. Biology and ecology Although roscoffensis means "who comes from Roscoff", this flatworm is not endemic to Roscoff or North Brittany. Its geographical distribution extends over the Atlantic coast of Europe; colonies were observed from Wales to the south of Portugal. 130 years of history In 1879, at the Station Biologique de Roscoff founded by Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers, the British biologist Patrick Geddes pondered the nature and origin of the green compound of a local acoela he called Convoluta schultzii. He succinctly described "chlorophyll-containing cells" and the presence of associated starch "as in plant chlorophyll grains". In 1886, French biologist Yves Delage published a detailed histological study describing (among other things) the nervous system and the sense organs of the same Roscoff acoela, Convoluta schultzii. In this article Delage also inquired as to "the nature of zoochlorella (i.e. micro-algae): are they real algae? Where do they come from? What are the symbiotic relationships that unite them to their commensal?" In 1891, Ludwig von Graff, a German zoologist from the University of Graz and a specialist in acoela, undertook a taxonomic redescription of the Roscoff acoela at the Station Biologique de Roscoff. His works highlight a taxonomic confusion in the previous works of Geddes and Delage: "... the researches made in Roscoff and on the Adriatic coasts showed me that the green convoluta of the Adriatic (Convoluta schultzii) ... is specifically different from the green Convoluta of Roscoff. I have preserved for the first one the old name Convoluta schultzii, for the second I give the name of Convoluta roscoffensis." The species name roscoffensis is thus a tribute to the Station Biologique de Roscoff and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. In this article, von Graff also writes about zoochlorella (i.e. micro-algae) "Although they undoubtedly derive