Why did it take so long to find giant squids? - Anna Rothschild

翻译人员: Bruce Wang 校对人员: Tianyun Liu

In 1873, two fishermen off the coast of Newfoundland

1873年，纽芬兰海岸的两名渔民

glimpsed what they thought was a submerged shipwreck.

瞥见了他们以为是沉没的船只残骸的东西。

But when they probed the mass, it moved—

但当他们试探这个物体时， 它却动了起来——

and huge serpentine appendages soon besieged their boat.

巨大的蛇形触手很快缠住了他们的船。

One fisherman took an axe to the animal, and it disappeared in a cloud of ink.

当其中一名渔民用斧头砍向那动物时， 它便消失在一片墨云中。

What remained were two long limbs—

留下的只有两条长长的肢体——

definitive evidence in a collection of clues that would only continue to grow.

这是不断增加的线索中 一个明确的证据。

Over time, it became clear that giant squids were more than mythical monsters.

随着时间的推移， 人们逐渐意识到大王乌贼不只是神话中的怪物。

People found sizable specimens washed ashore,

人们发现了大量搁浅在海岸上的大王乌贼标本，

caught in nets, and at the sea’s surface,

被渔网捕获的， 甚至在海面上发现的，

and observed sperm whales with sucker-shaped scars

还有抹香鲸身上的吸盘形伤疤

and large beaks in their stomachs.

以及它们胃中的大王乌贼喙。

But it wasn’t until recent decades that scientists actually found

但直到近几十年， 科学家才真正发现

living giant squids in their natural habitat.

生活在自然栖息地的大王乌贼。

So, what do we really know about these creatures?

那么，我们对这些生物到底有多少了解？

Well, interestingly, one thing we've gathered is that they might not even be

有趣的是， 我们了解到的一个信息是，

the biggest squids out there.

它们可能甚至不是体型最大的乌贼。

There are hundreds of squid species inhabiting almost all parts of the ocean,

海洋中栖息着数百种乌贼， 它们分布在几乎所有海域，

ranging from the size of a thumbnail

从指甲盖大小

to more than seven times the length of a human.

到超过七倍于人类身长不等。

All squids are carnivores and share the same basic body plan,

所有鱿鱼都是食肉动物， 有着相同的身体布局，

including a muscular mantle that covers their internal organs, a sharp beak,

包括覆盖内脏的 肌肉状外套膜、锋利的喙、

eight arms, and two tentacles specialized for capturing prey.

八条手臂和两条 专门用于捕猎的触腕。

The smallest squids eat things like tiny shrimp,

最小的乌贼吃像小虾一样的小型生物，

while larger ones can feast on fish using their powerful beaks.

而体型较大的乌贼 则用它们强大的喙捕食鱼类。

The Humboldt squid’s bite force, for example,

例如，洪堡乌贼的咬合力

is strong enough to shatter Kevlar plates.

足以击碎凯夫拉板。

And the suckers on the giant squid’s long, clubbed tentacles

而大王乌贼长长的、棍状的触腕上的吸盘被尖锐的、

are encircled by sharp, teeth-like protrusions

牙齿般的凸起物包围，

that help them grip prey like deep sea fish and other squids.

这些有助于它们抓住深海鱼类 和其他乌贼等猎物。

Giant squids live in the cold, dark, high pressure twilight zone.

大王乌贼生活在寒冷、黑暗、 压力极高的黄昏带。

It's extremely unlikely you'd ever encounter one,

你遇到它的可能性极小，

since you'd be very out of your depth down there.

因为那里的深度 已经远远超出你的能力范围。

We don’t know exactly why giant squids are so big—

我们不确定为什么大王乌贼的 体型如此巨大——

but the phenomenon fits with a pattern of deep-sea gigantism,

但这种现象符合 一种深海巨型化的模式，

where certain deep-sea species dwarf their shallow-living relatives.

即某些深海物种比它们生活在 浅水的亲属要大得多。

Perhaps because food down there is scarce,

或许是因为深海的食物稀缺，

large animals that can cover more ground and store more food are favored.

大体型的动物可以覆盖更大的范围， 储存更多的食物，从而更具优势。

Giant squids’ size could also give them an anti-predator advantage,

大王乌贼的巨大体型也可能为 它们提供了一种防御捕食者的优势，

while the deep’s cool temperatures help them manage their metabolic rates.

而深海的低温有助于它们控制新陈代谢率。

Innovations over the past 150 years—

在过去150年的创新技术中——

from dredges and bathyspheres

从拖网到深潜球，

to untethered and remotely operated submersibles—

再到无绳的远程操作潜水器——

have enabled peeks into the deep.

使得我们得以一窥深海的奥秘。

And yet, it wasn’t until 2004

然而，直到2004年，

that researchers actually saw a giant squid in its natural habitat.

研究人员才真正看到大王乌贼 在其自然栖息地的身影。

Then finally, in 2012, scientists lured a giant squid and got it on video.

最终在2012年，科学家找到了一只大王乌贼， 并拍下了它的视频。

They used a stealth camera system fitted with a device

他们使用了一套隐形摄像系统， 配备了一个装置，

mimicking a bioluminescent jellyfish under attack.

模仿受到攻击的发光水母。

The system had no thrusters, keeping it unobtrusively quiet.

这个系统没有推进器， 因此悄无声息。

And it only projected beams of red light— undetectable to most deep-sea dwellers.

它只投射红色光束—— 而大多数深海生物都无法察觉到这种光线。

Both encounters revealed that giant squids are not sit-and-wait predators,

两次遭遇都表明， 大王乌贼并非人们之前认为的

as previously suspected.

伏击型猎食者。

Instead, they’re active hunters that use their basketball-sized eyes

相反，它们是主动的捕猎者， 用篮球般大小的眼睛

to stalk their prey

追踪猎物，

before projecting their tentacles and snatching animals up to 10 meters away.

然后迅速伸出触腕， 在10米范围内捕获猎物。

But many questions still stand.

但仍有许多问题悬而未解。

We know sperm whales eat giant squids,

我们知道抹香鲸会捕食大王乌贼，

but it’s unclear how fierce the fight is

但不清楚它们之间的战斗有多激烈，

and if the squids ever stand much of a chance of escaping.

以及乌贼是否有很大的逃脱机会。

Extrapolating off the number of giant squid beaks in whale bellies,

通过推测鲸鱼胃中的 大王乌贼喙数量，

one estimate placed the global giant squid population at around 4 million.

有一种估计认为全球 大王乌贼的数量约为400万只。

It seems they mate when a male injects sperm packets into a female’s arm—

看起来它们在交配时， 雄性会将精子囊注入雌性的手臂——

but exactly how they find each other and what happens after are uncertain.

但它们如何找到彼此， 以及之后发生了什么，仍然是未知的。

Giant squids are globally distributed,

大王乌贼在全球范围内分布，

but they’re mostly missing from the planet’s polar regions,

但它们大多缺席于地球的极地区域，

one of which happens to be where another humongous squid species lurks:

而在这些区域之一， 另一种巨型乌贼栖息着：

the elusive colossal squid.

难觅踪迹的巨型乌贼。

Far fewer specimens have been collected,

采集到的标本要少得多，

and they’ve yet to be seen or documented in their habitat.

并且尚未在其自然栖息地被看到或记录。

But we know they’re from a completely different family than giant squid—

但我们知道， 它们与大王乌贼来自完全不同的家族——

evidence that gigantism independently evolved more than once among squids.

这表明它至少比乌贼多独立进化过一次。

Their limbs are shorter than giant squids’,

它们的触肢比大王乌贼的短，

but their mantles are larger, making them up to twice as heavy.

但外套膜更大， 使它们的体重高达大王乌贼的两倍。

And unlike the giant squid’s toothy tentacles,

并且与大王乌贼长有“牙齿”的触腕不同，

colossal squids have hooked, swiveling sucker barbs.

巨型乌贼的吸盘上有旋转的钩状刺。

Much remains mysterious about these animals.

关于这些生物， 仍有许多神秘之处。

But we know they’re down there,

但我们知道它们在深海中，

guarding their secrets in the deep, dark sea.

守护着属于自己的秘密。