The Fantastically Weird World of Photosynthetic Sea Slugs | Michael Middlebrooks | TED

翻译人员: Jacky He 校对人员: suya f.

I'm going to talk to you today about sea slugs and solar power.

我今天要与你们 谈谈海蛞蝓与太阳能。

My background and what I do -- I'm an invertebrate zoologist.

我的背景和职业是... 我是一位无脊椎动物学家。

So invertebrate animals are animals that don't have a backbone.

无脊椎动物就是缺乏脊柱的动物。

So this is actually most of the animals on the planet.

地球上大部分的动物都是这样。

It ranges from things like insects to clams to sea sponges to worms.

它包含昆虫、牡蛎、海绵和虫子，

And a great other many things

以及许多其他我们今天

that we don't have time to talk about today.

没时间讨论的生物。

On our planet, most of the biological energy that we have available

在我们的星球上， 我们大部分可利用的生物能源

comes, ultimately, from the sun.

最终来自太阳那儿。

The process from this being converted to solar energy,

这个太阳能转化成生物能源的

to biological energy is photosynthesis.

过程即光合作用。

You’re probably familiar with this as something that plants do.

你大概率知道这是植物干的事情。

And all of the food that we eat ultimately comes from photosynthesis,

而我们吃的所有食物 最终来源于光合作用，

either us directly eating plants or eating animals that eat plants.

不论是直接吃蔬菜， 还是吃素食动物。

And that's really where all of the energy

而这也是所有动物

that all of the animals have comes from.

所含全部能量的出处。

However, there are a few animals that have managed to get around that

但是，一些动物绕过这一环，

and become photosynthetic themselves

自己变得能够进行光合作用，

and are able to capture the energy from the sun,

并能捕获来自太阳的能量，

convert it into biological energy, right?

将其转化为生物能量。

So just like plants, they take carbon dioxide in sunlight,

那么像植物那样， 他们在阳光下吸收二氧化碳，

turn it into sugar and oxygen.

将其转化为糖和氧气。

The best and most famous example of this are the corals.

这里面最出彩的例子是珊瑚。

The photos that we're looking at here

我们目前看到的照片

are some some corals from the Red Sea in Egypt

是一些珊瑚，来自埃及红海

and from a reef in Cuba.

和位于古巴的一座珊瑚礁。

All the photos I'm going to share with you today are photographs I've taken.

所有我今天与你们 分享的照片是我所拍摄的。

And when I've gotten photos from the field,

在我野外拍摄后，

I put the location there, if you're interested.

我把位置标在这儿， 如果你们感兴趣。

The photos from the laboratory won't be labeled like that.

实验室的照片不会这么标注的。

They have a black background on them.

他们是黑色的背景。

Corals are able to photosynthesize because of a special partnership,

珊瑚能够进行光合作用是因为 一种特殊的“搭档关系”，

a symbiosis that they have

即他们与一种名为“虫黄藻”的

with a single-celled algae called zooxanthellae.

单细胞藻类的共生关系。

The algae live inside of cells of the coral,

这些藻类生活在珊瑚细胞之内，

capture the sunlight and provide the corals with sugar.

捕获阳光并为珊瑚提供糖分。

So effectively we have photosynthetic animals.

那么这实际上是动物在进行光合作用。

This is unusual,

这是不寻常的，

but actually occurs in quite a lot of the corals

但其实在许多珊瑚和

and many of their relatives,

它们的近亲，

and actually happens in a fair number of other animals as well.

以及许多其他动物中发生。

So we see this in things like some sea sponges,

那么像海绵，

we see this in some flatworms,

像扁虫，

and we see it in other animals closely related to corals

和其他珊瑚的近亲，

like sea anemones and jellyfish.

如海葵和水母皆是如此。

So this is an upside down jellyfish.

这是一只底朝天的水母。

This is an organism that, just like the corals we were talking about,

这种生物， 像我们所说的珊瑚那样，

has these zooxanthellae inside of them and can photosynthesize.

内含虫黄藻并能够进行光合作用。

So this animal lives in like, shallow mangroves throughout the world

那么这种动物栖息在 全球各地的红树林中，

and just lays on the bottom, capturing sunlight.

并待在底部，捕获阳光。

I keep a few in my laboratory that I use for teaching,

我在我用于教学的 实验室中保留了一些，

and I don't actually have to feed them.

而我不需要喂养它们。

I just give them light from one of my aquarium lights,

我用我的一个水族灯 给它们提供光照，

and I’ve managed to keep some of them there for two years.

并成功地让其中一些活了两年多。

And I use them in my invertebrate zoology courses.

我把它们用在我的无脊柱动物学课程中。

I like the jellyfish, though,

我比较喜欢水母，

even though the coral is perhaps a more famous example.

即便珊瑚是更著名的例子。

The jellyfish is nice because we can take a tentacle of a jellyfish

水母挺不错，因为我们能够 分出水母的一只触手，

and look at it under the microscope,

并在显微镜下研究它，

and that allows us to see this process.

使我们得以观察这个过程。

So this is a micrograph, a microscopic photograph I've taken,

那么这是张显微照片， 我用显微镜拍的触手内

of some zooxanthellae from the tentacle

一些虫黄藻的照片，

of the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopeia.

来自于“倒立”水母。

And I did this back at my laboratory in Tampa.

这是我在我坦帕的实验室做的。

And all of those little golden brown spheres that we're seeing,

我们看到的那些细小金棕色圆球，

each one of those is one of those algal cells.

它们各个是单独的藻类细胞。

So they're loaded in there quite densely.

它们非常紧凑地排在里面。

There's a lot of them there.

里面数量很多。

So these animals are able to photosynthesize that way.

这些动物能够因此进行光合作用。

So it's quite remarkable that we have animals

存在非典型机制的动物，

that are not doing the typical animal thing.

这是很令人感叹的。

The jellyfish can still feed, and in the wild, they do.

水母还是能捕猎， 它在野外是这样的。

But they can get most of their energy just from the sun.

但它们能从太阳 获得大部分能量。

Fantastic.

非常有趣。

I primarily study a group of organisms called mollusks.

我主要研究了一种名为 软体动物的生物。

Mollusks are probably familiar to some of you,

软体动物对你们来讲可能是熟悉的。

if, because of nothing else,

单纯是因为...

because of their shells and in some cases as food.

是因为它们的外壳和食材的用处。

So these include animals like snails and clams.

那么这些包括蜗牛、蛤蜊等。

Also things like octopus and squids

还有像章鱼、墨鱼

and some other strange things that we won't have time to go into today.

和其他我们今天 没时间研究的奇怪生物。

But the mollusks are a fantastically diverse group.

但软体动物是出奇地多样化。

They are the second most diverse group of animals on the planet

它们是地球上多样性第二的动物群体，

after the arthropods,

排在由于昆虫而胜出的

which win out because of the insects.

节肢动物之后。

But in terms of sheer diversity in body form,

但考虑到身体形态的各异，

the mollusks, I would argue, are in fact the most diverse

我会同意软体动物事实上 是最为多样复杂的，

and range from things smaller than grains of rice

包括从比米粒还小的生物

to colossal squids that are absolutely enormous.

到超巨型的墨鱼。

And we have photosynthesis within our mollusks as well.

而软体动物内也发生光合作用。

So these are giant clams.

那么这些是巨型蛤蜊。

They're fantastically beautiful animals.

它们是令人赞叹的美妙生物。

They live in tropical coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific, primarily.

它们主要栖息在印太地区的 热带珊瑚礁内。

And when I say giant, there's a range.

而“巨型”也是有个范围的，

Some of the species aren't quite so large,

有些物种没那么庞大，

but some of them are absolutely enormous, and they’re beautiful.

但另一些完全是体型巨大， 美丽无比。

And a lot of the coloration we're seeing in some of these

而这些当中很多色彩来源于

comes from their symbiotic algae.

与它们共生的藻类。

They have the same zooxanthellae that we saw within the corals.

它们具有我们在珊瑚内 看到的相同的虫黄藻。

Unfortunately, giant clams are rather difficult to see in the wild.

不幸的是，野生巨型蛤蜊比较罕见。

They've been overharvested in many areas because people want their large shells

它们在很多地区被过度捕捞， 因为人们需要它们的巨壳

and they are also eaten.

或将其作为食材。

That's a very interesting symbiosis too.

这也是挺有趣的共生现象。

But the group that I'm most interested in are called the gastropods.

但我最感兴趣的一类是腹足动物。

Gastropods are snails and slugs.

腹足动物是蜗牛和蛞蝓，

So your typical garden snail that you may be familiar with

即你可能熟悉的常见花园蜗牛

and many of the seashells

和很多你去沙滩

that you may have collected visiting the beach

采集的贝壳

come from gastropods.

来自腹足动物。

So this is a tremendously diverse group of mollusks.

那么这是一类极为多样的软体动物。

They're the most diverse group of mollusks in terms of number of species.

它们论物种数目是 最为多样的软体动物。

Quite a large number of them.

数量挺多，

And they're fantastically interesting.

而它们是惊人地有趣。

I wish we had time to go into more of them here.

我希望我们有更多时间研究它们。

The one in the middle is a cone snail,

中间的这位是锥形蜗牛，

one of the most venomous animals on the planet.

地球上毒性最强的动物之一，

And also a ...

也是...

subject of a great deal of biomedical research

许多生物医学研究的对象，

studying the potential of its venom.

关于其毒素的潜能。

But my real passion is slugs.

但我真正的激情在于蛞蝓。

My favorite thing to do is go scuba diving in a tropical coral reef

我最喜欢的事情是去 热带珊瑚礁带水肺潜水，

and look for sea slugs.

并寻找海蛞蝓。

And a sea slug, ultimately, or any slug,

而海蛞蝓，或是任何蛞蝓，

is a snail that, over the course of evolution, has lost its shell.

其实是在演化途中 丢失其外壳的蜗牛。

So a slug is just a snail minus the shell, right?

一只蛞蝓只是蜗牛 去掉了外壳，不是吗？

And this has happened multiple times.

而这发生了许多次。

This was not a single evolutionary event,

并不是单个的演化过程，

but one that occurred over and over again.

而是重复过许多许多次的。

And so we have multiple unrelated groups of snails

那么我们看到许多独立分支的蜗牛

that have either greatly reduced or lost their shell over the course of evolution.

在演化过程中极大地削减 或失去了它们的外壳。

There's a few of them shown here,

一些展示在这里，

just to show you some variety.

以显示多样性。

This includes the head shield slugs.

其中包括“头罩蛞蝓”。

There are sea hares as well as the pulmonates, or air-breathing, slugs,

还有海兔以及有肺蛞蝓；

which may show up in your garden

它也许会出现在你的后院

and cause you a great deal of displeasure.

并给你产生不愉快。

Now, the most common question that I get

我得到的最频繁的问题，

when I tell people what I do for a living, studying slugs,

当我告诉人们我的工作是， 研究蛞蝓，

is, “Why would you do that?

是，“你为什么要干这个？

Why study slugs?

为什么研究蛞蝓？

You could do anything.

你可以做任何事情，

Why do that?"

做这个干啥？”

And I think the best way to explain this to you all is not to tell you,

而我认为向你们解释这点的 最好方式不是通过语言，

but to show you.

而是展示给你们看。

So here are some of the slugs I've encountered in my travels.

这是我旅途中遇到的一些蛞蝓。

They are fantastically weird.

它们惊奇地怪异，

They're fantastically beautiful.

惊奇地美妙。

They do some very strange things.

它们能做很多奇怪的事情。

There’s a lot of really interesting biology going on with these animals.

这类动物内发生许多 很有趣的生物活动。

And there’s so much that we don’t know.

而还有这么多我们不知道的。

Many slugs,

许多蛞蝓，

the only scientific paper written on them is a species description.

涉及其唯一的科学论文是物种描述。

And there's many more out there that haven't even been described.

而还存在着许多未被描述过的。

So there's so much for us to learn and so much that we don't know.

所以许多我们得理解的， 许多我们不知道的。

It's just wide open and so fascinating to me.

领域非常开阔， 而非常符合我的兴趣。

Now, in the ocean, there are many types of slugs.

在海洋里，有非常多种类的蛞蝓。

I've sort of shown you that already.

我可以说已经给你们展示过了。

There's two groups that I'm going to tell you about now.

我现在要告诉你们两个类别，

One group is probably the most famous of them

其一大概是最著名的，

and certainly the most diverse in terms of total number of species,

也是论物种数目最为多样的，

are the nudibranchs.

是裸鳃亚目 (nudibranchs) 。

And that name, “nudi,” means naked,

其中 “nudi” 意思是裸体，

but "branch" means gills.

而 “branch” 意味着鳃。

So it's referring to those feathery tufts that we're seeing on these animals.

即我们在动物身上看到的 那些羽毛状的簇绒。

They're beautiful, they're diverse, they're interesting,

它们是美丽、多样、有趣的，

and they're carnivores.

而且是肉食的。

They eat other animals, mostly -- they are slugs, right,

它们吃其他动物—— 它们毕竟是蛞蝓，

so they’re not chasing things down.

所以不会去追捕其他动物。

They eat other slow things.

它们吃其他缓慢的生物。

So sometimes other slugs,

可能是其他种类的蛞蝓。

they also eat things like sponges and in some cases,

它们还吃像海绵，或者是

relatives of our corals,

珊瑚的近亲，

like sea anemones.

如海葵这类生物。

And some of these nudibranchs that do that

而有些肉食的裸鳃亚目

are able to take those zooxanthellae that we were talking about earlier,

能够吃进我们之前所说的虫黄藻，

put them inside of their own cells,

将其塞进它们自己的细胞里，

and then they become photosynthetic.

并得以进行光合作用。

So they steal their photosynthesis.

它们偷取光合作用。

They're excellent thieves.

它们是不错的小偷。

Some of them even steal the stinging cells out of jellyfish and anemones

它们有些甚至能够 偷来水母与海葵的刺细胞，

and use them for their own defense.

并用于自身的防御。

Absolutely fantastic.

非常惊奇。

This is my favorite group of slugs.

这是我最喜爱的一类蛞蝓。

These are the sacoglossan sea slugs.

它们是囊舌总目蛞蝓。

They are also thieves.

它们也是小偷。

They are, you may notice, green, right?

你也许注意到，它们是绿色的。

Some of them are green for camouflage,

它们有些用绿色作伪装，

but many of them are green for a very different reason.

但很多中的绿色 是出于很不一样的原因。

These slugs are herbivores,

这些蛞蝓也是食草动物，

and they have a special single little tooth,

而它们有颗特殊的牙齿，

and they just poke one little hole into the algae,

只要在藻类表面戳个洞，

and then they slurp out the contents inside of it.

然后吸食里面的东西。

And they take some of those contents and they digest them.

它们会消化其中一部分，

But others, the chloroplasts,

但其他的，如叶绿体，

which are the organelles inside of a plant cell

即植物细胞内的细胞器，

that allows plants to photosynthesize,

允许植物进行光合作用的，

the slugs take those and stick them inside of their own cells,

蛞蝓会利用这些， 把它们置入自己细胞内，

and then they become photosynthetic.

并能够进行光合作用。

We call this kleptoplasty.

我们将这称为 盗食质体 (kleptoplasty) 。

"Klepto", as in to steal, "plasty" as in chloroplast, right?

“Klepto” 即偷取， 而 “plasty” 是指叶绿体。

So they've stolen chloroplasts.

那么它们偷取了叶绿体。

And these slugs, it varies,

而这些蛞蝓，看情况的话，

some of them can only do this for a couple of days,

有些只能几天内这么干，

but some can do this for many months, even complete their entire life cycle.

但有些能够持续很多个月， 甚至是长达整个生命周期。

Let's take a little bit closer look

让我们来仔细观察

at the digestive track of one of these slugs.

一只蛞蝓的消化系统。

This is a photo by my colleague Nick Curtis.

这是来自我的同事， 尼克·库尔提斯的照片。

And this is showing us the digestive tubules of these animals.

这里展示了这些动物的消化道。

So their digestive track is highly branched.

那么它们的消化道是高度分支的，

It goes in many different directions.

它延伸至许多个不同方向。

And at the end of these branches,

在这些分支的最后，

we have these cul de sacs that are loaded with chloroplasts.

是充满着叶绿体的死胡同。

If we look closer at a single cell in one of these cul de sacs,

如果我们更细地观察 死胡同里的单个细胞...

also a photo by my colleague Nick Curtis,

也是我的同事尼克·库尔提斯的照片。

we see a single cell here.

我们看到这里的单个细胞。

That's what we're looking at, that structure labeled N.

我们在观察的是这个， 标号 N 的结构。

That is the nucleus of the cell.

那是细胞核。

But all of those structures labeled C and everything that looks like them,

但标记为 C 的结构， 以及类似它们的那些，

those circles, those are chloroplasts,

那些圆圈，那是叶绿体，

and they're jammed in there so tight and so dense

而且它们如此紧密地排列在里面，

that there's more chloroplasts in that cell

至于此细胞内的叶绿体

than you would find in the algae, at least in terms of density.

相较藻类里的还要多， 至少论密度是如此。

This is wonderful.

这是绝妙的。

These animals have stolen photosynthesis,

这些动物偷来光合作用，

and you can see some of them kind of look like leafs, right?

而它们一些看着像叶子，不是吗？

They're super green,

它们是鲜绿的。

they're fantastically photosynthetic.

它们的光合作用能力很强。

And how they do this is somewhat of a mystery.

而它们怎么做到的还是未知。

Taking a chloroplast and sticking inside of a cell

将一个叶绿体置于细胞内

is not enough to become photosynthetic.

并不足以产生光合作用。

Chloroplasts need things that the algae provide to them

叶绿体需要藻类供给它们，

that animals shouldn’t be able to do.

而这动物应是无法做到的。

And we've started to unravel some of this.

而我们已经开始解开这些谜团。

And this is a slow process

这是个漫长的过程，

and something that we're just really scratching the surface of.

也是我们才触及表面的。

But one of the things that we've discovered for the two slugs shown here,

但关于这里两只蛞蝓我们发现的是，

the emerald sea slug,

这只翡翠色蛞蝓

which can photosynthesize for its entire adult life cycle,

能够整个成年生命周期里 进行光合作用，

nine months after one meal.

在进食后 9 个月依然如此。

And the lettuce sea slug,

而这个生菜蛞蝓，

which lives throughout the Caribbean

栖息在加勒比海地区，

and the primary one I study,

也是我所主要研究的

photosynthesizes three or four months after a meal.

在进食后 3 到 4 个月 进行光合作用。

Both of these animals are able to make chlorophyll,

这两个动物都能产生叶绿素，

which is one of the chemicals

即光合作用所需的化合物之一。

that is needed for photosynthesis to occur.

And animals should not be able to do this.

而动物不应该有这般能力，

But somehow these slugs have managed to do it.

但这些蛞蝓成功了。

And so this is one of the things that I find really exciting

所以这是我认为 让人兴奋的事情之一，

and that we're trying to unravel.

也是我们尝试去理解的。

But there's so many things that we still don't know about this.

但是我们对此依然不清楚很多事情的，

So many questions we haven't even thought of yet to ask.

存在许多我们根本没思考过的问题。

What's going on here at the cellular level?

在细胞层面发生什么？

What's happening at the molecular level?

在分子层面发生什么？

What's happening at the biochemical level?

从生物化学角度在发生什么？

We're starting to get the answers to these questions.

我们已经开始解答这些问题。

But there's so much we don't know yet.

但仍存在许多我们所不知道的。

Why are some of them blue?

为什么某些蛞蝓是蓝色的？

I have no idea.

我并不知道。

But some of our slugs are occasionally this wonderful blue color,

我们的有些蛞蝓时而呈现亮眼的蓝色，

something we hope to someday figure out.

这我们希望某一天能得出结论。

So I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to sea slugs.

所以我希望你们喜欢 这场对海蛞蝓的介绍，

I hope this leaves you curious to learn more

我希望这使你们好奇想了解更多

about slugs and other invertebrates.

关于海蛞蝓和其他无脊椎动物的。

There's just so much that we don't know and so much out there for us to learn.

存在那么多我们所不知道的， 那么多我们可以学到的。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）