Hagfish: The world's slimiest creatures - Noah R. Bressman and Douglas Fudge

304,022 views ・ 2022-07-12

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

Translator: Cindy So Reviewer: Thomas Tam
00:06
As the truck screeched to a halt, one of its containers slid off,
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當架貨車急速煞停 車入面有個貨箱跣咗出嚟
00:11
hit an approaching Prius and spilled its contents.
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撞落架豐田 Pirus 度 入面啲嘢灑到一地都係
00:16
Those contents happened to be thousands of kilograms of live hagfish,
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嗰啲就係幾千公斤 活生生嘅盲鰻
00:20
also known as slime eels.
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又叫做黏鰻魚
00:23
The result of this 2017 car accident was an absolute mess:
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2017 年嘅呢場車禍 搞到一片混亂:
00:28
the highway was littered with wriggling fish
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公路上周圍都係 蠕動緊嘅盲鰻
00:30
and coated in a thick slime that took the fire department 7 hours to clear.
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消防員用咗七個鐘頭先將黐住喺地面 嗰層厚厚嘅黏液清除乾淨
00:37
Astonishingly good looks aside,
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盲鰻除咗樣靚之外
00:40
the standout strength of all hagfishes is their slime.
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最出眾嘅長處就係佢哋嘅黏液
00:44
In fact, they’re probably Earth’s slimiest animals.
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事實上,佢哋應該係 地球上最黐𥹉𥹉嘅動物
00:48
But why be so slimy?
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但係點解佢哋要黐𥹉𥹉嘅呢?
00:51
Watch and learn.
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睇埋落去就知喇
00:54
This hagfish has detected a dead fish using its keen sense of smell
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呢條盲鰻用靈敏嘅嗅覺 同皮膚上一點點好似味蕾嘅器官
00:59
and the tastebud-like organs dotting its skin.
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偵測到一條死魚
01:02
Revealing imposing rows of toothlike structures, it takes the first bite.
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佢露出一排排好壯觀嘅齒狀結構 咬落去第一啖
01:08
A shark glides on to the scene and suddenly lunges.
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一條鯊魚游過嚟 突然之間撲埋去
01:12
Being caught in the shark’s powerful jaws may seem like a guaranteed death sentence,
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盲鰻畀鯊魚強而有力嘅上下顎困住咗 睇起上嚟實死無生
01:17
but the hagfish has some tricks up its sleeve.
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但係盲鰻有招獨門祕技
01:21
The shark’s teeth clench down but there are no bones to crush—
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鯊魚咬緊啲牙齒 但係根本冇盲鰻骨頭可以咬碎
01:26
only flexible cartilage.
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佢咬到嘅只係柔韌嘅軟骨
01:29
And because the hagfish’s skin is so loosely attached to the rest of its body,
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加上因為盲鰻 鬆拋拋嘅皮膚包住身體
01:33
the pressure from the bite
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咬落去造成嘅壓力
01:34
causes the hagfish’s essential organs to slip out of the way,
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令盲鰻嘅重要器官 輕輕噉跣開咗
01:38
avoiding damage.
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避免受損
01:40
This is where being a noodle in a baggy wetsuit really pays off.
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呢個就係一條麵 喺件寬鬆嘅潛水衣裏面嘅好處
01:45
Meanwhile, the hagfish also actively repels the shark
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同時,盲鰻亦會噴出 多到嚇親人嘅黏液
01:49
by spewing a stupendous supply of slime.
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積極噉擊退鯊魚
01:53
Around a hundred slime glands line each side of the hagfish’s body.
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盲鰻身體每邊 大概有一百個黏液腺
01:58
Within them are mucus and thread cells.
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當中有黏液細胞同線細胞
02:01
The mucus cells are packed with hundreds of vesicles of condensed mucus
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黏液細胞充斥住 幾百個含有濃縮黏液囊
02:06
while each thread cell contains an intricately coiled protein fiber.
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而每個線細胞就含有 錯綜複雜盤繞嘅蛋白纖維
02:12
The hagfish contracts the muscles surrounding some of its slime glands,
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盲鰻收縮黏液腺周圍嘅肌肉
02:16
causing the cells to eject their contents into the seawater.
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將細胞入面嘅嘢 射出去海水嗰度
02:20
In a fraction of a second, the mucus vesicles swell and burst,
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黏液囊瞬間發漲爆破
02:25
and the protein fibers unravel.
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而啲蛋白質纖維就會散開
02:28
Together, they expand to 10,000 times their original volume,
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佢哋會一齊膨脹到 原本體積嘅一萬倍
02:33
instantly creating liters of slime.
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即時製造出幾公升嘅黏液
02:36
Because the substance is composed of mucus
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由於嗰啲物質係由黏液構成
02:39
and reinforced with numerous superfine and strong silk-like fibers,
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並受到無數極之纖細 而強韌嘅絲狀纖維所強化
02:43
the slime is incredibly soft yet tough.
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所以呢啲黏液十分之柔軟 但又好結實
02:47
It lodges in the shark’s delicate gills,
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啲黏液會撠喺鯊魚脆弱嘅鰓入面
02:50
and as the shark chokes and tries to clear the slime,
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當鯊魚窒息 想清除嗰啲黏液嗰陣
02:54
it releases the hagfish.
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就會放開條盲鰻
02:56
Now, the hagfish is free from the jaws of death.
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而家條盲鰻脫離咗死亡威脅
02:59
But it’s in a dilemma of its own doing,
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但係佢亦都陷入咗兩難
03:02
trapped in a cloud of its own suffocating slime.
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被困喺自己造成嘅 一團令人窒息嘅黏液度
03:05
So what does it do?
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佢會點做呢?
03:07
Well, it ties itself in a knot, of course.
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佢將自己打成一個結
03:10
Starting at its tail and passing its body through,
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從尾部開始,畀身體穿過
03:13
the hagfish effectively wipes away its own slime.
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有效率噉擦甩自己嘅黏液
03:17
Apparently unfazed by the whole encounter,
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佢睇落全程都好淡定
03:20
it returns to its meal.
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仲返去繼續食嘢
03:22
When it gets to a tougher part of the carcass...
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當佢食到條屍體 冇咁容易嚼嘅部位
03:25
Voila! The hagfish ties itself in yet another knot
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嗱,佢又將自己打成個結
03:29
to gain leverage and yank off the meat.
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方便借力扯甩嚿肉
03:33
The hagfish’s slime is so remarkable that people are trying to emulate it.
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盲鰻嘅黏液好犀利 人類都想仿製
03:38
Currently, a lot of athletic and safety gear
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而家,好多運動同安全裝備
03:41
is made from non-renewable petroleum-based fibers.
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都係由不可以再生嘅 石油纖維所造成
03:44
But hagfish slime threads rival the properties of materials like nylon.
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但係盲鰻嘅黏液纖維線性能 可以媲美尼龍之類嘅纖維
03:50
And fibers modeled after those in hagfish slime may present
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而靠模仿盲鰻黏液嚟製作嘅纖維
03:53
a much more sustainable alternative.
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有可能成為 更具持續性嘅替代品
03:56
Meanwhile, hagfish slime is also being explored in military contexts
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同時,喺軍事領域上 探索緊利用盲鰻嘅黏液
04:00
as a non-lethal weapon that could be used to stop boats
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作為一種唔會致命 截停船隻嘅武器
04:04
by sliming up their propellers.
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方法係黐住啲船嘅螺旋槳
04:06
In addition to mastering the art of slime and knot-tying,
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盲鰻除咗精通使用黏液 同埋打結嘅藝術
04:10
hagfish have four little hearts
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仲有四個細嘅心臟
04:12
and can survive 36 hours without oxygen unscathed.
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同喺 36 小時無氧氣底下 乜事都冇噉繼續存活
04:17
Oh, and they also clean the seafloor
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佢哋亦會清潔河床
04:19
and cycle essential nutrients in the deep sea.
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同埋喺深海入面 循環必需嘅養分
04:23
Proto-hagfish were navigating the ocean’s depths
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最原始嘅盲鰻 早喺超過三億年前
04:26
more than 300 million years ago—
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就喺深海入面游嚟游去——
04:29
before dinosaurs roamed and back when Pangea was still a thing.
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喺盤古大陸仲未分裂 恐龍開始喺世上漫步之前
04:33
Having persisted through multiple mass extinction events,
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盲鰻捱過咗多次 大規模嘅生物滅絕事件
04:37
hagfish have just about seen it all.
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世事都畀佢哋睇透喇
04:39
And it would appear that they’re still having a wonderful slime.
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睇嚟佢哋而家都仲有 「滑」得好地地嘅粘液
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