地球海洋中十大最強生物(2)

r Shark

7.虎鯊

Tiger sharks are carnivorous fish that get their name from the stripes found on their bodies when they are young. Tiger sharks can grow up to 14 feet in length, and the largest tiger shark every recorded weighed 1,400 pounds. They have very sharp teeth and very powerful jaws. Their bite is so powerful that they can crack the shells of turtles, which is a very difficult feat. Tiger sharks, along with great white sharks and bull sharks, are know for attacking humans. However, because tiger sharks aren't very picky about what they eat, they often kill humans while a great white shark would usually just bite and swim away. A tiger shark's stomach contents has revealed stingrays, seals, birds and even old tires – talk about an unrefined palate!

虎鯊屬食肉型魚類，因幼時身上就長滿條紋而得名。虎鯊可長到14英尺長，記錄在案的最大的虎鯊重1400英磅。它們有尖利的牙齒和有力的下顎，咬力大到能將海龜殼咬碎，而這絕非一般海洋生物所能做到。虎鯊、大白鯊和牛鯊都因攻擊人類而聞名。但是，虎鯊可不挑食，大白鯊通常只是咬一口就遊走了，虎鯊卻會殺死人類。虎鯊的不挑食絕非浪得虛名，它們會吃黃貂魚、海豹、海鳥甚至是舊輪胎。

There used to be a myth that these indiscriminate predators could be the cure for cancer. This idea rested on the fact that sharks don't get cancer. In the 1970s, researchers found that cartilage prevented the growth of new vessels in tissue, and these new vessels are one of the key components of cancerous tumors. Because sharks have skeletons made entirely from cartilage, the researchers reasoned that a shark's skeleton would be the best hope for new therapies. This therapy was never proven nor has it been clinically tested in America. But even still, LaneLabs still sells cartilage pills today and the market for shark cartilage was estimated to reach $30 million in 1995. Unfortunately, this has decreased the number of sharks in North America by up to 80 percent, and as it turns out, sharks actually do get cancer.

曾有傳言稱，這些食肉者們能治療癌症，因爲鯊魚不會得癌症。20世紀70年代，研究人員發現，軟骨組織會抑制新血管的生長，而這些新血管恰恰是構成腫瘤細胞的重要組成部分之一。因爲鯊魚的骨骼完全是由軟骨而來，研究人員推斷，鯊魚的骨骼可爲新療法帶來希望。但是這一療法從來沒有被證實也沒有被美國臨牀測試過。即使如此，Lane實驗室還是出售軟骨藥丸。據估計，藥丸在1995年交易額已達到三千萬美元。不幸的是，這使得北美鯊魚總數下降了80%；而事實證明，鯊魚也會得癌症。

t Squid

6.大王烏賊

Giant squids are some of the most mysterious creatures of the sea as well as being the biggest invertebrate on earth. Measuring around 33 feet, the largest giant squid ever found truly was a giant weighing nearly 2,000 pounds and measuring 59 feet in length. Giant squids are elusive in their natural habitats and difficult to study. Most of what we know about them is from deceased squids that have washed up on beaches. It was not until 2004 that the first images of a live giant squid were taken. Giant squids have been found on beaches all over the world but it is still hard to say how far they swim or what their exact habitats are. These humongous squids also have massive eyes because they live so deep in the ocean that they do not see any light. Little is known about the giant squid but it is possible that when given the chance, they will kill and eat small whales, implying that those massive tentacles must be very strong.

大王烏賊是海洋中最神祕的一類生物，也是地球上最大的無脊椎動物。大王烏賊一般長約10米，最大的大王烏賊則長達18米，重達900千克。大王烏賊在自己的棲息地內總是來無影去無蹤，很難加以研究。目前我們只能通過死亡後被海水衝到岸邊的烏賊瞭解其相關信息。直到2004年，才首次拍到活着的大王烏賊影像。我們在世界各地的沙灘上都見到過大王烏賊的身影，但至今仍很難說清楚它們究竟能遊多遠或者它們的棲息地到底在哪裏。這類巨型魷魚的眼睛大得驚人，因爲它們常年生活在深海，看不見亮光。對於大王烏賊，我們知之甚少，但我們可以推測，如果有機會，它們甚至可以殺死並吃掉幼年鯨魚，這意味着大王烏賊巨大的觸角必須非常強壯。

The sperm whale is one the greatest predators of the giant squid but with their giant eyes, giant squids have an early warning of the approach of their massive predators.

抹香鯨是大王烏賊的捕食性天敵，但大王烏賊有自己的天敵預警方法，它們巨大的雙眼可以幫助它們早早發現抹香鯨的靠近。

's Mane Jellyfish

5.獅鬃水母

One of the only creatures longer than the imagined giant squid is the lion's mane jellyfish, whose tentacles can reach120 feet long. This is longer than the average body of a blue whale! Their bodies are 95 percent water and they have no bones or blood. They don't even have brains. Yet, jellyfish are some of the longest surviving predators swimming in our seas. Jellyfish have been swimming our oceans for about 650 million years, which is before the dinosaurs even stepped onto the Earth. The lion's mane jellyfish will eat fish and even other jellyfish, and they can do this because despite not having brains, they are very powerful swimmers. Their swimming is what allows them to get away from predators and also to hunt and kill their own food. Unlike other sea creatures, jellyfish do not have teeth. They use their tentacles to poison and paralyze their prey before swallowing it whole.

唯一比想象中的大王烏賊還要長的海洋生物就是獅鬃水母了。其觸鬚長度可達36米，這可比藍鯨的平均體長還要長！獅鬃水母體內含水量達百分之九十五，它們沒有骨頭或血液，甚至沒有大腦。然而，水母卻是在海域中生存時間最長的食肉動物。約6億5千萬年前，水母就已生活在海洋中，這甚至比恐龍在地球上出現的時間還早。獅鬃水母會捕食魚類，甚至是其他水母，雖然沒有大腦，但它們都是游泳健將，所以捕食對它們來說是輕而易舉的事。強大的游泳技能使得它們能夠逃脫天敵的魔爪，又能輕鬆獵殺自己的食物。不同於其他海洋生物的是，水母沒有牙齒。它們先用自己有毒的觸鬚刺螫獵物，待獵物麻痹後，再大快朵頤。

m Whales

4.抹香鯨

Sperm whales are not the biggest whale swimming in the ocean, even at a whopping 35 tons, but that does not stop them from being formidably powerful creatures. Sperm whales are the owners of the largest brains of any creature known on Earth. Sperm whales are impressive swimmers who can dive in excess of 3,000 feet below the surface to find food, and because they are mammals, they have to hold their breath for the whole 90 minute return trip! Sperm whales can be found anywhere in the ocean and prefer meals of squid. Sperm whales hunt squid though a method which involves them flipping upside down in order to create a vacuum which can hoover a squid up from up to three feet away. Many squids are easy pickings for the huge whales and their vacuum mouths, but species like the giant squid are just big enough to fight back. There have been several notable occurrences of sperm whales fighting with giant squids, and some sperm whales have even been found with the marks of a squid's suckers on its body, a testament to the strength of the giant squid.

成年體重高達35噸的抹香鯨不是海洋中最大的鯨魚，但這並不能阻止它們成爲強大的生物。 抹香鯨是地球上所有已知生物中頭腦最大的生物。抹香鯨的潛水能力極好，可以在3000多英尺深的海域內尋找食物，鑑於哺乳動物的屬性，它們必須在90分鐘的回程內屏住呼吸，保存體內含氧量！抹香鯨廣泛分佈於各大海域，喜食烏賊。抹香鯨獵捕烏賊的方法極妙：它們猛然翻滾身體、俯衝而下，利用水流形成真空，靠着這股水壓把距離自身2-3英尺的烏賊吸入口中。許多烏賊能輕易發現鯨魚和它們真空的嘴並適時地進行反擊，而抹香鯨似乎也樂在其中。有些抹香鯨身上遺留下的吸盤印跡可以表明，巨型烏賊會與抹香鯨纏鬥，且巨型烏賊的戰鬥力也不容小覷。

The sperm whale may not be the biggest and most powerful mammal in the sea, but it's ancestors were certainly contenders for the title. A fossil of a huge sperm whale was found in the Peruvian desert in 2008. The fossil was namedLeviathan melvillei, after Herman Melville, the author of the ultimate seaman's novel Moby Dick. The whale probably lived around 12 million years ago and is an example of what is probably one of the most powerful predators ever found. It had a skull that was 3 meters long and jaws filled with 36 centimeter teeth., possibly some of the biggest teeth ever found.

抹香鯨也許不是海洋中體型最大的和力量最強的哺乳動物，但它們的祖先可稱得上是“海中霸主”。2008年，一塊巨型抹香鯨化石在祕魯（Peruvian）沙漠中被發現。爲了紀念最偉大的航海小說——《白鯨記》（Moby Dick）的作者赫爾曼·梅爾維爾（Herman Melville），這塊化石被命名爲梅爾維爾鯨（Leviathan melvillei）。這條鯨魚可能生活在12萬年前，是迄今發現最強大的食肉動物。它的頭蓋骨長達3米，下顎嵌36釐米長的牙齒，可能是已發現的最大的牙齒。

校對：莊粉玲 編輯：橘子