海洋生物的十大神奇之處(3)

illa Eels Can Walk On Land

3.安圭拉鰻能在陸地上行走

Anguilla eels, commonly known as European eels, live in the lakes and waterways of northern Europe and the UK. They've been recorded at lengths of nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft), though they're normally only about half that size or smaller. But they don't always stay where they're supposed to—Anguilla eels can leave the water and slither across dry land for a short amount of time. They do this for two reasons—the first is to feed, although they usually stick to insects and earthworms. The second reason is to migrate.

安圭拉鰻一般稱作歐洲鰻，生活在北歐和英國的湖泊、航道中。根據記錄，它們有近2米（6.5英尺）長，儘管一般的要小一半或者更小。但是它們並不總是待在人們認爲它們應該待的地方——安圭拉鰻能離開水體，短時間內滑過乾燥的陸地。它們這樣做有兩個原因：其一是取食，儘管它們通常吃昆蟲和蚯蚓；其二是遷徙。

Anguilla eels spend about 20 years in the same lake. But they start and end their lives 6,500 kilometers (4,000 mi) across the Atlantic in the Sargasso Sea. To get from their European lakes to the Atlantic, anguillas work their way up and down waterways using an as-yet-undiscovered navigation system. If the waterway is blocked—with a dam, for example—the eels leave the water and cross fields and forests to the next stream or river. Environmentalists are actually using that unique ability to build climbable "ladders" on dams and weirs to allow the eels to complete their migrations. On a slightly more terrifying note, the larger cousins of anguillas, conger eels, can also cross dry land, and also have the tendency to attack people.

安圭拉鰻能在同一個湖泊裏待上20年左右。但是它們生命的開始和結束卻要跨越大西洋，在6500千米（4000米）之外的馬尾藻海里。爲了從歐洲的湖泊到達大西洋，安圭拉鰻藉助各條航道完成自己的旅程——它們使用什麼樣的導航系統我們還不知曉。如果航道堵塞——比如有水壩——這些鰻會離開水體，穿過田野和森林到達下一條小溪或小河。環境學家就運用它們這種獨特的能力在水壩上修建了"梯子"，讓它們爬過去，完成遷徙。有一點比較嚇人，安圭拉鰻的親戚，康吉鰻也能穿過乾燥的陸地，並對人類也具有攻擊性。

World's Largest Migration Happens Every Day

2.世界上規模最大遷徙每天都在進行

The Sargasso Sea is perhaps the most unique body of water in the world. It doesn't have any borders other than a series of converging Currents that hold it roughly in the same place, even though it's right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It's a body of water within a body of water—the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current, and the Canary Current all hit it on different sides, with the Sargasso Sea acting as the calm center. It was called the "Sea of Lost Ships" by sailors because the air is unnaturally calm and ships could get stuck there for days or weeks.

馬尾藻海應該是世界上最具特色的水體了。它沒有什麼邊界，只有一系列匯聚到一起的洋流可以大概確定它的位置，即使它就在大西洋中間。這是一片水域之中的一部分——灣流、北大西洋暖流、加那利洋流都從不同方向匯聚其中，馬尾藻海扮演着平靜的中心的角色。它被水手稱爲"迷船之海"，因爲氣流異常平靜，船隻可能被困上幾天或幾個星期。

Most importantly, the Sargasso Sea is an almost completely self-sufficient ecosystem. The sargassum, a floating seaweed that covers the surface of the sea, provides food and shelter for thousands of species, which in turn provide food for the sargassum through their waste. There are layers upon layers of marine life in the sea, from surface dwellers to deep-sea life over 5000 meters (16,000 ft) down. And at night, it's the setting for the largest migration in the world—over 5,000 species comprising millions of sea creatures surge up from the deep to feed, then return to the bottom before dawn.

更重要的是，馬尾藻海幾乎是一個完全自給自足的生態體系。果囊馬尾藻是一種漂浮在洋麪上的海藻，爲成千上萬種生物提供食物和庇護，動物的排泄物也反過來爲海藻提供養料。海里的生物一層疊一層，從海面直到深海超過5000米（16000英尺）。晚上，這裏就是世界上最大規模遷徙的舞臺——5000多種生物，總共幾百萬海洋生物，從深海突然出現，尋找食物，黎明前再回到海底。

le Street View: Oceans

1.谷歌街景：海洋

Google Street View is a popular addition to Google Maps that lets you look at any location from street level. In 2007, Google sent a fleet of cars around the world to photograph literally everything. Then they took the photos and composited them into a long string that lets you "walk" any route with the click of a button. But that's old news and hardly exciting.

谷歌街景是谷歌地圖的很受歡迎的附加功能，讓你能用在街上的角度看任何地點。2007年，谷歌在全世界派出一支車隊，爲一切東西照相。然後他們將照片合成一長串，讓你點擊一個按鈕就能"走"任何路線。但是這已經不是新聞了，不值得興奮。

Street View: Oceans is sort of the same thing, except instead of looking at your ex-girlfriend's house you can stroll directly into the Great Barrier Reef, or any one of dozens of underwater spots spread across six oceans. They're adding more locations to the program as fast as they can, but so far they only have the reefs around the Galapagos Islands, Heron Island, Wilson Island, and Hanauma Bay, to name a few. This is part publicity stunt and part science project—while anyone can enjoy the tour, they're also using the photos to monitor the growth (and decay) of the world's most important coral reefs, which provide a combined home for a full 25 percent of all marine life.

街景：海洋也與此類似，除了你看不見前女友的房子，取而代之，你能直接在大堡礁裏散步，或者走進六大洋幾十個水下景點的任何一個。他們正全速增加這個應用裏的位置，但是目前爲止爲數不多，只有加拉帕戈斯羣島、蒼鷺島、威爾遜島和恐龍灣等附近的珊瑚。這一部分是公衆信息特技，一部分是科學項目——當人人都可以享受這樣的旅行時，他們也在用相片監管世界最重要的珊瑚的生長（和腐壞）情況，這些珊瑚是整整25%的海洋生命的大家庭。

翻譯：羅惠月 來源：前十網