你不知道的關於龍蝦的10件怪事(下)

les Carry Live Sperm Up to Two Years

3.雌性龍蝦可以攜帶活精子長達兩年之久

When lobsters mate, the male deposits his sperm into the female before she leaves, but that doesn't mean that her eggs are fertilized right away.

龍蝦交配時，雄性會在雌性離開前把它的精子儲存給雌性，但這並不意味着雌性的卵子立刻受精。

In some cases he hasn't provided enough sperm to fertilize all of her eggs -- there could be tens of thousands of them -- so she may seek out one or more additional males to get the job done.

在某些情況下，雄性並不能提供足夠的精子使雌性的卵都受精—雌性可能有成千上萬顆卵，所以雌性龍蝦會尋找一個或多個的雄性完成這項受精工作。

But even then her eggs might not be fertilized, because the female decides when conditions are just right. She may store live sperm in her body for two years before using them to fertilize her eggs.

但即使這樣，雌性的卵子也不可能全部受精，因爲雌性龍蝦會自行選擇合適的環境受精。在使用活精子使卵子受精之前，雌性可以讓精子在她的體內存活兩年。

Once the lobster fertilizes the eggs, they may stay inside her for another year before she lays them. And then they can stay attached to her swimmerets -- the small legs under her tail -- for another 9 to 11 months.

一旦龍蝦的卵受精，這些受精卵會在雌性龍蝦產卵前，在其體內繼續逗留一年。它們會吸附在雌性的游泳足上（雌性龍蝦尾巴下面的小腿）度過9到10個月的時間。

After they hatch, the larvae float for about a month before settling on the bottom of the ocean to grow.

受精卵孵化後，這些龍蝦幼體在沉到海洋深處生長髮育前會漂浮大約一個月的時間。

Only 1 percent of larvae make it to the bottom and in general, just two of every 50,000 eggs live long enough to become adult lobsters of catchable size.

只有1%的龍蝦幼體能夠順利抵達海底，在一般情況下，每5萬顆卵中只有兩顆能夠生存下來，併成長到可以捕撈的成年龍蝦的尺寸。

The lengthy life cycle and small payoff help explain why female lobsters are discriminating about when they decide to fertilize and lay their eggs.

漫長的生命週期和極少的回報有助於幫助我們解釋爲什麼這些能夠決定受精和產卵的雌性龍蝦會被區分對待。

ters Can Be Cannibals

2.龍蝦可能同類相食

One reason why more baby lobsters don't make it to adulthood? They tend to turn on each other. After hatching, lobsters go through numerous stages of development.

爲什麼很多小龍蝦還沒長成就死了呢？因爲它們總是自相殘殺。龍蝦在孵化之後要經歷好幾個成長步驟。

Once they start to actually look like little lobsters, they're not just floating along and eating zooplankton, fish eggs and other types of larvae anymore.

一旦它們看上去像小龍蝦了，就不再只是遊蕩着吃浮游動物，魚卵和其他種類的幼蟲了。

They're competing for food and going after prey like crab, gastropods, starfish and marine worms. In close quarters, these juveniles will eat each other without any qualms.

它們會互相爭奪食物，開始捕食像螃蟹，腹足類動物，海星和海生蠕蟲了。如果兩隻小龍蝦相互靠近，他們就會毫無疑慮的吃掉對方。

This behavior is part of why lobsters aren't often raised in captivity -- they have to be separated into individual containers.

這就是龍蝦不會集體飼養而是分開餵食的部分原因。

This cannibalistic behavior isn't limited to baby lobsters, though. It's common for adults to eat juveniles or lobsters that have just molted when they're in traps or tanks.

這種同類相食的行爲並不僅侷限於小龍蝦，我們平時更多見的是，成年龍蝦在飼養池裏吃掉小龍蝦或剛蛻皮的龍蝦。

Until recently, though, researchers hadn't witnessed this type of behavior in the wild. Then in 2012, scientists in Maine filmed lobsters practicing infanticide.

直到最近，研究員纔在野外發現龍蝦的這種行爲。2012年，緬因州的科學家拍下了龍蝦捕食同類幼體的過程。

They tethered a juvenile lobster, figuring that its natural predators, such as cod and skate, would take advantage. At night, though, adult lobsters fought over it.

他們鎖定了一隻幼年小龍蝦，發現它跟鱈魚和鰩魚一樣，是會利用一切的天生捕食者。然而在晚上時，成年龍蝦則跟這隻小龍蝦爭鬥。

The cannibalism was blamed on a recent glut of lobsters. Warmer waters and overfishing practices had reduced the populations of their natural predators.

這些同類相食的龍蝦曾一度因數量太多而被責備。然而，水溫升高和過度捕撈已經使得它們這些天生捕食者數目大減。

Don't Show Signs of Aging

1.龍蝦並不顯年紀

If you believe everything you read, you may recall seeing a lobster meme in the summer of 2013 -- a photo of a lobster with the phrase "biologically immortal, delicious with butter."

如果你記得所有讀過的東西，你可能會記起2013年夏天看到過的一隻叫美美的龍蝦的照片。上面還寫着一句話，“長生不老，輔以黃油更美味。”

I can attest to the latter part, but the former isn't true. Lobsters don't age in the same way as most other animals – they don't get weaker or lose their ability to reproduce, and will keep on molting and growing.

我沒法證實這句話的後半部分，但我可以確定它的前半部分是不對的。龍蝦和其他動物的變老方式不一樣，他們不會因爲上了年紀而變得衰弱或失去繁殖能力，而是一直進化成長。

However, that doesn't mean that they live forever. At some point, even if they aren't caught, they die due to natural causes. Often this is because they run out of energy to molt at all and not molting leads to fatal diseases.

但是，這並不意味着他們能永生。從某種方面講，即使沒有被人抓去，它們也會因爲自然因素死掉。通常是由脫皮時能量消耗過度，或者沒有脫皮而導致致命的病變。

So, we know that lobsters eventually die, but we aren't quite sure when.

所以，我們知道了龍蝦最終會死，但是不確定是什麼時候。

Lobsters reach their adult size when they weigh between 1.5 and 2 pounds (680 and 907 grams), but the heaviest one ever caught clocked in at 44 pounds (20 kilograms).

龍蝦在體重達到1.5至2磅（680至907克）的時候就成年了，但是跟據紀錄，人類捕捉到的最重的龍蝦是44磅（20千克）。

Some estimate that lobsters in the wild can live up to 50 years.

野外生長的龍蝦估計可以長到50歲。

Scientists estimate a lobster's age by measuring levels of materials known to accumulate in its body over time, such as deposits of fat in its eyestalks or a pigment called eurolipofuscin in its brain.

科學家可以通過測量龍蝦體內隨着時間積聚的已知材料等級來估計它們的年齡，比如它們眼柄的脂肪含量或大腦裏一種叫eurolipofuscin的色素。

The latest research indicates that the best way to estimate lobster age may be by counting age bands well hidden inside the gastric mill in one of its stomachs.

最近的研究表明，最好的方法是計算藏在它們其中一個胃裏的胃齒白，從而估計年齡範圍以最終得出龍蝦的年齡。