How Life Begins in the Deep Ocean

Translator: Alan Watson Reviewer: Leticia Ng

（海洋嘅故事）

（海膽嘅歷程︰同浮游生物交配）

I must look rather strange to you,

我對你嚟講應該好奇怪

all covered in spines,

我全身都係針

without even a face.

仲要我冇面

But I've taken many forms during my life.

但我已經經歷過好多種形態

I started out just like you:

我就好似你咁，一開始都係一個卵子

a tiny egg in a watery world.

My parents never knew each other.

我父母從來唔知對方係邊個

One moonlit night before a storm,

喺暴風雨前嘅一個月光皎潔嘅晚上

thousands of urchins, clams and corals

成千上萬嘅海膽、蛤蜊同珊瑚

喺海裏面釋放出上億嘅精子同卵子

released trillions of sperm and eggs into the open sea.

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

我爸爸嘅精子遇到我媽媽嘅卵子

and they fused.

然後佢哋結合

Fertilization.

就係受精作用

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

我喺一瞬間成為咗一粒灰塵咁大嘅胚胎

After a few hours of drifting,

漂泊幾個鐘之後

I cleaved in two,

我分裂成兩個細胞

然後四個細胞

then four,

then eight cells.

然後再八個細胞

Then so many, I lost count.

一直分裂落去，多到數唔曬！

In less than a day,

一日之內我生咗腸道同骨架

I developed a gut and a skeleton.

我變成咗一個好似飛船物體嘅長腕幼蟲

I became a rocket ship,

a pluteus larva.

I floated through the world of plankton,

我喺浮游生物當中漂浮

searching for tiny algae to eat.

搵超細嘅藻類食

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

有好幾個星期我被各種幼蟲圍著

larvae of all sorts.

Most are so different from their adult form

呢啲幼蟲同佢哋長大之後嘅形貌好唔同

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

生物學家要花好多時間

先至可以辨別佢哋

Try matching these youngsters to their parents.

你嘗試下搵出幼蟲嘅父母係邊個？

This veliger larvae will turn into a snail;

呢隻緣膜幼蟲會變成海螺

this zoea, into a crab;

呢隻幼蟲會變成海蟹

and this planula, into a clytia jelly.

呢個實囊幼蟲會變成水母

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

有啲同我同年紀嘅朋友

比較容易睇得到係成熟

呢啲水母寶寶亦都叫海蜇苗

These baby jellies, known as ephyrae,

already resemble their beautiful but deadly parents.

已經同佢哋父母一樣咁靚又毒

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

喺浮游生物界

將基因傳到下一代嘅方法唔止一種

to get your genes into the next generation.

Most Medusa jellies make special structures called polyps,

大多數水母體有特別嘅息肉構造

that simply bud off babies with no need for sex.

令佢哋可以經由無性繁殖繁衍下一代

被囊動物亦都差唔多

Salps are similar.

當食物充足嘅時候

When food is abundant,

they just clone themselves into long chains.

佢哋會複製自己成長鏈狀

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

浮游生物嘅交配令人驚奇

Meet the hermaphrodites.

睇下呢啲雌雄同體嘅生物

These comb jellies and arrow worms

櫛水母同箭蟲同時

produce, store and release both sperm and eggs.

製造、儲存同釋放精同卵子

佢哋可以令自己 或者其他個體嘅卵子受精

They can fertilize themselves,

or another.

When you're floating in a vast sea,

當你喺汪洋裏面漂浮

with little control over who you may meet,

唔知會遇到邊個時

雌雄同體可以令你同時做兩個角色

it can pay to play both sides of the field.

呢度大多數嘅物種

The majority of species here, however, never mate,

唔會建立或者維持長久嘅親子關係

nor form any sort of lasting bonds.

That was my parents' strategy.

呢個亦都係我父母用嘅策略

There were so many of us pluteus larvae,

我哋長腕幼蟲嘅數量龐大

I just hid in the crowd,

當其他人被獵食時

while most of my kin were devoured.

我就藏身喺一大班人裏面自保

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

唔係所有父母由得仔女自生自滅

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

有啲物種仔女比較少

但對仔女嘅照顧亦都多咗

brooding their precious cargo for days, even months.

佢哋會花幾日，甚至幾個月

孵化佢哋嘅寶貝

This speedy copepod

呢種敏捷嘅橈足動物

totes her beautifully packaged eggs for days.

將佢美麗嘅卵，藏喺嘴入邊幾日

This Phronima crustacean carries her babies on her chest,

呢類甲殼動物將佢嘅寶寶擺喺胸裏邊

then carefully places them in a gelatinous barrel.

然後小心咁將佢哋 放喺身體嘅膠狀圓筒入邊

But the black-eyed squid takes the prize.

但黑眼魷魚喺呢方面最犀利

She cradles her eggs in long arms for nine months,

佢將寶寶呵護喺觸手裏面長達九個月

the same time it takes to gestate a human infant.

同人類懷孕周期一樣長

Eventually, all youngsters have to make it on their own

但最終呢啲細路都係要

in this drifting world.

離開父母，行自己嘅路

Some will spend their whole lives in the plankton,

有啲就一世用浮游生物嘅形態生活

有啲就同我一樣身體轉化

but others, like me, move on.

A few weeks after I was conceived,

當我成為胚胎嘅幾個星期之後

I decided to settle down,

我決定轉化為一隻海膽

and metamorphosed into a recognizable urchin.

So now you know a bit of my story.

我嘅故事就係咁嘞

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

我可能只係一個動作慢嘅、有刺嘅波

但唔好俾我冷靜、成熟嘅外表呃咗

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

I was a rocket ship.

我曾經係游嚟游去嘅太空飛船

I was a wild child.

我曾經係個狂野嘅細路