具有特異功能的十種水生動物(下)

kippers Can Climbs Trees

5.彈塗魚能爬樹

There's a famous quote attributed to Einstein: "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." If you search Google for "Einstein fish tree," you'll find thousands of motivational posters with Einstein's face and the quote included, even though he never said it.

人們傳言愛因斯坦曾說過這些話："人人都是天才。但是如果你通過爬樹的能力來評判一條魚，那麼它一生都自認爲很愚蠢。"如果你在谷歌上收索"愛因斯坦、魚、樹"，你會找到幾千張相關的海報——畫有愛因斯坦的臉，寫着這句話——儘管他從沒這麼說過。

Should you come across any of your friends sharing one of those pictures, feel free to show them this video of a fish climbing a tree. That genius of the fish world is the mudskipper, a fish that spends much of its life out of the water. It lives in areas filled with mangrove trees, and is quite happy to pull itself up a log or branch. It uses its pelvic fins as a sort of suction cup to keep it attached, and pulls itself up with its pectoral kippers have developed small sacks around their gills that let them hold a breath of water, much the same way we would hold a breath of air. They climb trees so they can stay out of the water during high tide.

如果你遇到分享這些圖片的朋友，你可以把這個關於魚兒爬樹的視頻給他們看看。這些魚類中的天才就是彈塗魚，它們一生有很多時間都不在水裏度過。它們居住的地方長滿了紅樹林，它們很高興爬到樹幹或樹枝上去。它們把腹鰭用作吸盤，用來抓住樹木，用胸鰭向上爬行。彈塗魚的鰓的周邊長有小口袋，可以盛住一次呼吸的水，很像我們能屏住一次呼吸。它們爬上樹，所以能在漲潮時呆在水域外。

erfish Shoot Down Prey

4.射水魚射擊獵物

Despite what Hollywood may have taught you, talented archers aren't all rebellious young women or Jeremy Renner. The archerfish is small tropical fish that feasts mainly on insects. It gets its name from the astonishing way it catches its prey. The fish, which are typically no more than 10 centimeters (4 in) long, can shoot a jet of water up to 2 meters (6 ft) at insects hanging on vegetation near the water.

除了好萊塢可能展現給你的東西，有才能的弓箭手並不都是反叛的年輕女人或者傑瑞米•雷納（Jeremy Renner）。射水魚是小型熱帶魚，主要以昆蟲爲食。它的名稱來自它驚人的捕食方式。這些魚一般不超過10釐米（4英寸）長，卻可以射出高達2米（6英尺）的水柱，捕捉掛在水面附近枝頭上的昆蟲。

They're able to accurately hit their small targets, in the dark, with enough force to successfully knock them into the water. They produce the jets by pressing their tongue against a groove in the roof of their mouth, much like the barrel of a gun. The speed of the water leaving their mouth increases throughout the spit. That allows all of the water to arrive at the same time, and hit the prey with six times the force the fish could produce with just the force of its muscles.

它們能精確地擊中自己小小的目標，在黑暗中用足夠的力氣將它們打下水裏。它們通過對着口腔上齶的溝槽擠壓舌頭噴出水柱——就像利用槍筒那樣。噴射增加了水離開嘴巴的速度。這樣，所有的水同時到達目標，用6倍於射水魚的肌肉可以產生的力量擊中獵物。

Teddy Bear Crab Makes Living Weapons

3.泰迪熊螃蟹製作生存武器

The teddy bear crab is a small crustacean covered in bushy, white bristles. While a furry crab is curious enough, the species Polydectus cupulifer also has an unusual behavior. It picks up stinging anemones, one in each claw, and wields them as weapons. The crab doesn't just stand there looking like a miniature yeti with red pain-pompoms, though. It can tell which anemones are useful, and turns the anemone around so it can grip it from the right angle. Then, the crab is able to strike with just the right part of its weapon.

泰迪型螃蟹是小型甲殼綱動物，外面覆蓋着濃密的的白色毛髮。長毛的螃蟹十足奇怪，而"Polydectus cupulifer"這種螃蟹也有異乎尋常的行爲。它們捕捉蜇人的海葵，一個鉗子一隻，然後拿它們當武器。然而，這些螃蟹也不只是像微縮的喜馬拉雅雪怪那樣站着，戴一副紅色會蜇人的裝飾球。它們能分辨那些有用的海葵，將海葵朝四方轉動，以便從合適的角度抓住它。然後，螃蟹能用武器的適當部位進攻。

The anemone isn't just something to attack predators with, either—it's also a food source. The crab will happily collect food from its "companions," even going so far as to reach inside the anemone's digestive system to pull out anything the anemone has already eaten.

海葵也不只是用來攻擊對手，也是食物來源。這些螃蟹很高興從"朋友"那裏採集食物，甚至深入到海葵的消化系統內，將海葵已經吃掉的東西都拖出來。

Pirate Perch Hides In Plain Sight

2.河鱸在視野裏隱身

The pirate perch is an unusual fish. When it's young its anus is located in the normal place you'd expect to find an anus, but as it matures, its anus moves to just underneath its chin. Yet it's not the migrating anus that warranted it a place on this list. And as if we haven't said the word anus enough in this paragraph already, we'd like to point out that the species name is A. sayanus.

河鱸是一種不一般的魚。幼魚的肛門位於正常位置——你能找到，但是成熟後，它們的肛門便移動到下顎下面。但不是這個會移動的肛門讓它們上了這張排行榜。好像我們在這一段裏還沒有說夠肛門這個詞似的，我們想說明這種魚類叫做奇肛鱸科。

Scientists investigating the response of beetles and frogs to predatory fish have found that the pirate perch has another unique feature. When they gave beetles and frogs a choice of ponds in which to live and reproduce, the animals avoided those that contained fish who were likely to choose them for dinner, with one exception. The potential prey were perfectly happy to set up home in ponds containing pirate researchers aren't sure whether the pirate perch is cloaking its chemical signature or disguising itself as something else, or if there's some other factor at play. Whatever is going on, the pirate perch is able to hide its presence in a way that other fish simply can't, making it uniquely talented.

科學家研究了甲蟲和青蛙面對食肉魚的反應，發現河鱸還有一個獨特的地方。當他們讓甲蟲和青蛙有機會選擇在池塘裏生活、繁殖時，裏面如果有那些可能會獵殺自己的魚類，它們就會避開這些池塘；只有一個例外。如果池塘裏有河鱸，這些可能被吃掉的動物卻很高興在這裏安家。研究員不確定河鱸是否掩蓋了自己的化學信號或者將自己僞裝成其他東西，或者其他因素在起作用。無論怎麼回事，河鱸能夠把自己藏起來，而其他魚就做不到——這是它們獨特的才能。

Tigerfish Plucks Birds From The Air

1.虎魚從空中捉鳥

The tiger is a deadly predator with very sharp teeth that you'd very much like to keep away from your face. In that way, the tigerfish is suitably named. This African fish is often compared to the piranha, as it's aggressive and uses its razor-filled jaws to tear its prey into pieces. Unlike the piranha, there is a giant variety of tigerfish—the goliath tigerfish—which can grow to weigh 50 kg (110 lb) and eat crocodiles.

老虎是兇殘的食肉動物，長着鋒利的牙齒，你一定希望它離自己的臉遠遠的。虎魚的名字就這樣應運而生。人們常將這種非洲魚與水虎魚相比較，因爲虎魚進攻性強，用插滿刀片的嘴把獵物撕成碎片。與水虎魚不同的是，虎魚有很多種類——歌利亞[①]虎魚——能長到50千克（110英鎊）重，還能吃鱷魚。

Yet it's the hunting ability of the smaller variety that's got it a spot on this list. Recently, researchers have recorded its ability to catch birds. While many fish are known to eat birds floating on the surface, a tigerfish in a South African lake was caught on film leaping out of the water and catching a swallow while the bird was flying through the e nobody has yet observed the goliath tigerfish displaying this behavior, we're probably going to avoid helicopter rides over African lakes for awhile, just in case.

然而，是這一小羣魚類的捕食能力讓它們進入了這個名單。最近，研究員記錄了它們捕捉鳥類的能力。很多魚因爲吃漂浮在水面上的鳥類而出名，南非一個湖裏的虎魚被拍到跳出水面抓住一隻掠過的燕子。沒有人觀察過歌利亞虎魚表演這個動作，我們以後應該避免直升飛機在非洲的湖泊上面飛行，以防萬一。

翻譯：羅惠月 來源：前十網