How Life Begins in the Deep Ocean

深海生物的生命之旅

譯者: Hao-Wei Chang 審譯者: Geoff Chen

海中傳奇

漂泊的海膽 浮游生物的繁衍

I must look rather strange to you,

對你來說我長得很奇怪吧!

all covered in spines,

全身長滿了刺

without even a face.

連張臉都沒有

But I've taken many forms during my life.

但我在成長過程中擁有許多不同的面貌

I started out just like you:

我一開始跟你一樣

a tiny egg in a watery world.

只是水世界中一顆小小的卵

My parents never knew each other.

我的父母互不相識

One moonlit night before a storm,

在暴風雨前月光皎潔的那一夜

thousands of urchins, clams and corals

成千上萬的海膽、蛤蜊和珊瑚

released trillions of sperm and eggs into the open sea.

在海洋中釋放出上億的精卵

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

我父親的精子奇蹟似地遇見了我母親的卵子

and they fused.

然後他們結合了！

Fertilization.

受精

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

很快地我變成一顆灰塵般大小的胚胎

After a few hours of drifting,

漂泊數小時後

I cleaved in two,

我分裂成兩個

then four,

然後四個

then eight cells.

接著八個細胞

Then so many, I lost count.

然後多到都數不清了！

In less than a day,

一天內我長出了腸道和骨架

I developed a gut and a skeleton.

I became a rocket ship,

我變成了一個飛船狀的長腕幼蟲

a pluteus larva.

I floated through the world of plankton,

我在浮游生物界中漂泊

searching for tiny algae to eat.

找微小的藻類來吃

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

有好幾個星期的時間我被各種有機體、

larvae of all sorts.

各類型的幼蟲圍繞著

Most are so different from their adult form

這些幼蟲與牠們的成蟲長的完全不一樣

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

使生物學家得費力地辨別牠們的身份

Try matching these youngsters to their parents.

試著找出牠們的父母是誰

This veliger larvae will turn into a snail;

這隻緣膜幼蟲會變成海螺

this zoea, into a crab;

這是海蟹幼蟲

and this planula, into a clytia jelly.

這個實囊幼蟲則會變成水母

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

有些我的兒時玩伴很容易和成體連想在一起

These baby jellies, known as ephyrae,

這些水母寶寶

也就海蜇苗

already resemble their beautiful but deadly parents.

已經和牠們父母一樣美麗而致命

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

在浮游生物界

把基因傳遞到下一代的方法不只一種

to get your genes into the next generation.

Most Medusa jellies make special structures called polyps,

大多數的水母體有特別的息肉構造

that simply bud off babies with no need for sex.

使牠們可經由無性的出芽生殖繁衍子代

Salps are similar.

被囊動物也是

When food is abundant,

當食物充足時

they just clone themselves into long chains.

牠們複製自己成長鏈狀

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

而在交配讓

浮游生物界充滿了驚奇

Meet the hermaphrodites.

見見這些雌雄同體的生物們

These comb jellies and arrow worms

櫛水母和箭蟲同時製造、儲存並釋放精子及卵子

produce, store and release both sperm and eggs.

They can fertilize themselves,

牠們可以讓自己或其他個體的卵子受精

or another.

When you're floating in a vast sea,

當你在汪洋中遊蕩

with little control over who you may meet,

不知道會遇見誰時

it can pay to play both sides of the field.

同時扮演正反兩種角色非常值回票價

The majority of species here, however, never mate,

這裡大多數的物種

不會建立或維持長久的親子關係

nor form any sort of lasting bonds.

That was my parents' strategy.

這就是我父母使用的策略

There were so many of us pluteus larvae,

我們的長腕幼蟲數量龐大

I just hid in the crowd,

當其他人被獵食時

while most of my kin were devoured.

我藏身在群眾之中以自保

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

並不是所有的父母都讓後代的生存由機率決定

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

有些物種生的子代較少

但對他們的照顧也較多

brooding their precious cargo for days, even months.

花了幾天

甚至是幾個月的時間孵化他們的寶貝

This speedy copepod

這種敏捷的橈足動物把牠美麗的卵藏在嘴中數天

totes her beautifully packaged eggs for days.

This Phronima crustacean carries her babies on her chest,

這類甲殼動物把牠的寶寶們帶在胸腔內

then carefully places them in a gelatinous barrel.

然後小心翼翼的將牠們放置在膠狀圓筒內

But the black-eyed squid takes the prize.

但黑眼烏賊在這方面最厲害

She cradles her eggs in long arms for nine months,

牠把寶寶們呵護在觸手囊袋中長達九個月

the same time it takes to gestate a human infant.

跟人類的懷孕周期一樣長!

Eventually, all youngsters have to make it on their own

但最終這些孩子們還是得在汪洋走出自己的路

in this drifting world.

Some will spend their whole lives in the plankton,

有些就一輩子當個浮游生物

but others, like me, move on.

但包含我在內的其他人就不同

A few weeks after I was conceived,

我出生幾個星期後

I decided to settle down,

我決定留在這裡

and metamorphosed into a recognizable urchin.

轉型成一隻真正的海膽

So now you know a bit of my story.

我的故事說完了

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

也許我是個動作慢的刺球

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

但請別被我冷靜、成熟的外觀給騙了

I was a rocket ship.

我曾是個太空飛船

I was a wild child.

我曾是個放蕩遊子