How Life Begins in the Deep Ocean

翻译人员: Minji Seo 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

"海中传奇"

"漂泊的海胆，浮游生物的繁衍"

I must look rather strange to you,

对你来说我长得很奇怪吧！

all covered in spines,

全身长满了刺，

without even a face.

连一张面孔都没有。

But I've taken many forms during my life.

但我在成长过程中有许多不同的面貌。

I started out just like you:

我一开始跟你一样，

a tiny egg in a watery world.

只是水世界中一颗小小的卵。

My parents never knew each other.

我的父母彼此从未谋面。

One moonlit night before a storm,

在暴风雨前月光皎洁的那一夜，

thousands of urchins, clams and corals

成千上万的海胆，蛤蜊和珊瑚

released trillions of sperm and eggs into the open sea.

在海洋中释放出上亿的精卵。

My father's sperm somehow met my mother's egg,

我父亲的精子奇迹般地 遇见了我母亲的卵子，

and they fused.

然后它们结合了。

Fertilization.

受精完成。

Instantly, I became an embryo the size of a speck of dust.

很快地我变成一颗灰尘般大小的胚胎。

After a few hours of drifting,

漂泊数小时后，

I cleaved in two,

我分裂成两个，然后四个，

then four,

then eight cells.

接着八个细胞。 然后多到我都数不清了。

Then so many, I lost count.

In less than a day,

一天之内，

I developed a gut and a skeleton.

我长出了肠道和骨架。

I became a rocket ship,

我变成了一个飞船状的

a pluteus larva.

长腕幼虫。

I floated through the world of plankton,

我在浮游生物界中漂泊，

searching for tiny algae to eat.

找微小的藻类来吃。

For weeks, I was surrounded by all kinds of organisms,

有好几个星期，

我都被各种有机体、

larvae of all sorts.

各类型的幼虫围绕着。

Most are so different from their adult form

大多数幼虫与它们的成虫长的完全不一样，

that biologists have a tough time figuring out who they are.

使生物学家得费力地辨别它们的身份。

Try matching these youngsters to their parents.

试试看找出它们的父母是谁。

This veliger larvae will turn into a snail;

这只缘膜幼虫

会变成海螺。

this zoea, into a crab;

这是海蟹幼虫。

and this planula, into a clytia jelly.

这个实囊幼虫则会变成水母。

Some of my young companions are easier to picture as grown-ups.

有些我儿时的玩伴很容易被 和成体联想在一起。

These baby jellies, known as ephyrae,

这些水母宝宝，被称为蝶状幼体，

already resemble their beautiful but deadly parents.

已经和它们父母一样美丽而致命。

Here in the plankton, there's more than one way

在浮游生物界,

把基因传递给下一代的方法不只一种。

to get your genes into the next generation.

Most Medusa jellies make special structures called polyps,

大多数的水母体

有着特别的息肉构造，

that simply bud off babies with no need for sex.

使它们可经由无性的出芽生殖繁衍子代。

Salps are similar.

被囊动物也是。

When food is abundant,

当食物充足时， 它们复制自己形成长链状的构造。

they just clone themselves into long chains.

The plankton is full of surprises when it comes to sex.

而交配让浮游生物界充满了惊奇。

Meet the hermaphrodites.

见见这些雌雄同体的生物们吧。

These comb jellies and arrow worms

栉水母和箭虫同时

produce, store and release both sperm and eggs.

制造、储存并释放精子及卵子。

They can fertilize themselves,

它们可以让自己或其他个体的

or another.

卵子受精。

When you're floating in a vast sea,

当你在汪洋中游荡，

with little control over who you may meet,

不知道会遇见谁时，

it can pay to play both sides of the field.

同时扮演雌雄两种角色是非常划算的。

The majority of species here, however, never mate,

这里大多数的物种

不会建立或维持长久的关系。

nor form any sort of lasting bonds.

That was my parents' strategy.

这就是我父母使用的策略。

There were so many of us pluteus larvae,

我们长腕幼虫数量庞大，

I just hid in the crowd,

当其他人被猎食时， 我藏身在群众之中以自保。

while most of my kin were devoured.

Not all parents leave the survival of their offspring to chance.

并不是所有的父母都让后代自生自灭。

Some have far fewer young and take much better care of them,

有些物种的子代较少，

需要对它们精心呵护，

brooding their precious cargo for days, even months.

要花上几天，甚至是几个月的时间 孵化他们的宝贝。

This speedy copepod

这种敏捷的桡足动物

totes her beautifully packaged eggs for days.

把它美丽的卵藏在嘴中数天。

This Phronima crustacean carries her babies on her chest,

这类甲壳动物把它的宝宝们带在胸腔内，

then carefully places them in a gelatinous barrel.

然后小心翼翼的将它们放置在 胶状圆筒结构内。

But the black-eyed squid takes the prize.

但黑眼乌贼在这方面最厉害。

She cradles her eggs in long arms for nine months,

它把宝宝们呵护在 触手囊袋中长达九个月，

the same time it takes to gestate a human infant.

跟人类的怀孕周期一样长。

Eventually, all youngsters have to make it on their own

但最终这些孩子们还是得在 汪洋中独立生存。

in this drifting world.

Some will spend their whole lives in the plankton,

有些就一辈子当个浮游生物，

but others, like me, move on.

但包含我在内的其他同伴就不同。

A few weeks after I was conceived,

我出生几个星期后，

I decided to settle down,

我决定留在这里，

and metamorphosed into a recognizable urchin.

转型成一只真正的海胆。

So now you know a bit of my story.

我的故事说完了。

I may just be a slow-moving ball of spines,

也许我只是个行动缓慢的刺球，

but don't let my calm adult exterior fool you.

但请别被我冷静、成熟的外观给骗了。

I was a rocket ship.

我曾是个太空飞船，

I was a wild child.

我曾是个放荡游子。