Glow-in-the-dark sharks and other stunning sea creatures | David Gruber

Translator: Wink Wong Reviewer: Alan Watson

I'm a marine biologist and an explorer-photographer

我係海洋生物學家

同樣係攝影探險家

with National Geographic,

亦都同國家地理雜誌合作做嘢

but I want to share a secret.

我想分享一個秘密

This image is totally incorrect,

呢幅圖完全係錯嘅

totally incorrect.

全部錯哂

I see a couple of people crying in the back

我睇倒後面有幾個人喺度喊

that I've blown their idea of mermaids.

因為我破壞曬美人魚喺佢哋嘅形象

All right, the mermaid is indeed real,

係嘅，呢個美人魚唔係假嘅

but anyone who's gone on a dive

但潛過水嘅人都會知道海洋似咁樣多啲

will know that the ocean looks more like this.

It's because the ocean is this massive filter,

因為我哋嘅海洋係一個好大嘅濾鏡

and as soon as you start going underwater,

只要你進入水底，你睇嘢就會無咗顏色

you're going to lose your colors,

and it's going to get dark and blue very quickly.

所有嘢會變成黑色或者藍色

But we're humans -- we're terrestrial mammals.

但係我哋人類係陸地生物

我哋擁有三原色嘅視覺

And we've got trichromatic vision,

so we see in red, green and blue,

我哋可以睇到紅、綠、藍

我哋鍾意睇到各種顏色

and we're just complete color addicts.

We love eye-popping color,

我哋鍾意鮮艷奪目嘅顏色

我嘗試將呢啲鮮艷奪目嘅顏色帶到水底

and we try to bring this eye-popping color

underwater with us.

So there's been a long and sordid history of bringing color underwater,

早喺 88 年前就有 一段漫長又令人沮喪嘅歷史

and it starts 88 years ago with Bill Longley and Charles Martin,

Bill Longley 同 Charles Martin 嘗試拍低第一張水底彩色相片

who were trying to take the first underwater color photograph.

And they're in there with old-school scuba suits,

佢哋著住舊款潛水衣同水肺潛水

where you're pumping air down to them,

有人揼氣畀佢哋

and they've got a pontoon of high-explosive magnesium powder,

佢哋有一隻浮筒裝住超易爆炸嘅鎂粉

and the poor people at the surface are not sure

而喺海面嘅人唔知佢哋幾時對焦好

when they're going to pull the string when they've got their frame in focus,

亦都唔知幾時拉繩

個構思係，當鎂粉爆炸

and -- boom! -- a pound of high explosives would go off

so they could put a little bit of light underwater

爆炸嘅光就可以去到水底

and get an image like this beautiful hogfish.

得到好似呢條咁靚嘅魚嘅相

I mean, it's a gorgeous image, but this is not real.

但我會話呢張相冇真實呈現到大自然

佢哋只係營造咗一個人工環境

They're creating an artificial environment

so we can satisfy our own addiction to color.

嚟滿足人類對顏色嘅癡迷

And looking at it the other way, what we've been finding

我哋覺得人唔應該將顏色帶到水底

is that instead of bringing color underwater with us,

that we've been looking at the blue ocean,

喺我哋觀察呢個藍色嘅海洋嘅當中

and it's a crucible of blue,

我哋發現海洋好比藍色嘅水缸

and these animals living there for millions of years

生活喺海洋裏面已經幾百萬年嘅生物

have been evolving all sorts of ways to take in that blue light

進化出好多方法去吸收呢種藍光

and give off other colors.

同釋放其他顏色

And here's just a little sample of what this secret world looks like.

呢度只係呢個神秘世界嘅一個角落

It's like an underwater light show.

呢個好似海底燈光表演咁

(Music)

（音樂）

Again, what we're seeing here is blue light hitting this image.

我哋睇緊嘅係藍光照射到珊瑚蟲

These animals are absorbing the blue light

呢啲動物吸收緊藍光之後 即刻改變呢種光

and immediately transforming this light.

So if you think about it, the ocean is 71 percent of the planet,

你諗下，海洋佔地球面積 71%

and blue light can extend down to almost a 1,000 meters.

藍光可以傳到海裏面大約一千米嘅地方

As we go down underwater,

當我哋落水，落到十米左右 紅光會消失

after about 10 meters, all the red is gone.

So if you see anything under 10 meters that's red,

如果你喺水底十米以下睇到紅色嘅嘢 係點嘅一回事？

it's an animal transforming and creating its own red.

呢啲紅光由生物自己轉化同創造嘅

This is the largest single monochromatic blue environment on our planet.

呢個係地球上最大嘅純藍色環境

And my gateway into this world of biofluorescence begins with corals.

我硏究呢個專題可以由珊瑚蟲講起

And I want to give a full TED Talk on corals

我仲想成個演講都喺度介紹珊瑚蟲

and just how cool these things are.

因為佢哋實在太過不可思議！

One of the things that they do, one of their miraculous feats,

佢哋之所以不可思議係因為

is they produce lots of these fluorescent proteins,

佢哋產生好多 呢啲熒光蛋白質、熒光分子

fluorescent molecules.

And in this coral, it could be making up to 14 percent of its body mass --

雖然呢啲熒光蛋白質 佔珊瑚蟲體重 14%

could be this fluorescent protein.

但我相信呢啲蛋白質都係有功能嘅

So you wouldn't be making, like, 14 percent muscle and not using it,

正如你唔會製造多 14% 肌肉 而又唔用佢咁

so it's likely doing something that has a functional role.

And for the last 10, 15 years, this was so special to me,

過去十至十五年 呢隻分子對我嚟講真係好特別

because this molecule has turned out to be one of the most revolutionary tools

因為呢啲分子喺生物醫學方面 成為咗一種最革命性嘅工具

in biomedical science,

and it's allowing us to better see inside ourselves.

佢令我哋更加認識自己

So, how do I study this?

我係點樣研究呢啲分子嘅呢？

In order to study biofluorescence, we swim at night.

我哋係喺夜晚游水

And when I started out,

開始嘅時候

I was just using these blue duct-tape filters over my strobe,

我哋只係用啲藍色濾光膠布 放喺我哋嘅眼罩度

so I could make sure I'm actually seeing the light

確保我哋睇到嘅藍光 係經動物轉變過嚟

that's being transformed by the animals.

We're making an exhibit for the Museum of Natural History,

我哋喺自然歷史博物館開咗個展覽

and we're trying to show off how great the fluorescent corals are on the reef,

想話畀人知珊瑚礁上嘅 熒光珊瑚蟲有幾犀利

and something happened that just blew me away:

但係有啲嘢令我好煩惱

this.

圈住呢個、喺珊瑚蟲中間 有一條綠色熒光嘅魚

In the middle of our corals,

is this green fluorescent fish.

It's the first time we've ever seen a green fluorescent fish

今次係我哋第一次發現綠色熒光魚 或者第一個有脊椎嘅熒光動物

or any vertebrate for that matter.

And we're rubbing our eyes, checking the filters,

我哋唔知係自己眼花定係個濾鏡有問題

thinking that somebody's maybe playing a joke on us with the camera,

以為有人故意喺我地嘅相機做手腳

but the eel was real.

但係呢條鰻係真嘅

It was the first green fluorescent eel that we found,

佢仲係我哋搵到嘅第一條綠色熒光鰻

and this just changed my trajectory completely.

呢個徹底咁改變咗我嘅研究思路

So I had to put down my corals and team up

我暫時放低珊瑚蟲

同魚類專家 John Sparks 開始全球調查

with a fish scientist, John Sparks,

and begin a search around the world

to see how prevalent this phenomenon is.

去睇下魚類熒光嘅現象有幾普遍

And fish are much more interesting than corals,

魚要比珊瑚蟲更加有趣

因為佢哋嘅視力非常之好

because they have really advanced vision,

and some of the fish even have, the way that I was photographing it,

當我拍攝嗰陣

有啲魚嘅眼裏面有透鏡放大熒光嘅效果

they have lenses in their eyes that would magnify the fluorescence.

So I wanted to seek this out further.

所以我想響哩個領域研究落去

So we designed a new set of gear

我哋設計咗一系列新嘅工具 去搵世界各地嘅珊瑚礁嘅熒光生物

and we're scouring the reefs around the world,

looking for fluorescent life.

And it's a bit like "E.T. phone home."

呢個有啲似句對白 「外星人打電話返屋企」

We're out there swimming with this blue light,

我哋游水嗰陣，開著埋藍色嘅光

and we're looking for a response,

睇吓有冇生物吸收咗藍光之後 返射畀我哋

for animals to be absorbing the light and transferring this back to us.

And eventually, we found our photobombing Kaupichphys eel.

最後我哋搵到呢隻學名 叫 Kaupichphys eel 嘅鰻

It's a really shy, reclusive eel that we know almost nothing about.

呢條鰻好怕羞、隱蔽，我哋未曾見過

They're only about the size of my finger,

佢大概有我隻手指咁長

and they spend about 99.9 percent of their time hidden under a rock.

佢有 99.9% 嘅時間匿埋喺舊石下邊

But these eels do come out to mate under full-moon nights,

但佢會喺月圓嘅時候出嚟交配

月光將水底變成藍色

and that full-moon night translates underwater to blue.

Perhaps they're using this as a way to see each other,

或者佢哋就係用呢種方法 拿拿冧搵異性交配

quickly find each other, mate,

go back into their hole for the next long stint of time.

佢哋之後會返返去自己個穴度 等下一次滿月

But then we started to find other fluorescent marine life,

我哋仲揾到其他熒光海洋生物

like this green fluorescent bream,

好似呢種綠色熒光鯿魚

佢嘅頸同頭都有熒光條紋

with its, like, racing stripes along its head and its nape,

佢之所以可以僞裝

and it's almost camouflaged and fluorescing at the same intensity

as the fluorescent coral there.

係因為佢發光嘅強度 同發光珊瑚礁差唔多

After this fish,

介紹完呢種熒光魚 我哋要介紹呢種紅色熒光鮋

we were introduced to this red fluorescent scorpionfish

cloaked and hidden on this rock.

佢將自己隱藏喺石後邊

The only time we've ever seen this, it's either on red fluorescent algae

我哋唯一一次見過佢嗰陣

佢喺紅色熒光藻類 或者紅色熒光珊瑚上面

or red fluorescent coral.

Later, we found this stealthy green fluorescent lizardfish.

跟住我哋揾到隱秘嘅綠色熒光蜥蜴魚

These lizardfish come in many varieties,

雖然呢種蜥蜴魚可以細分做幾種

and they look almost exactly alike under white light.

但係佢哋喺白光之下好似樣

But if you look at them under fluorescent light,

如果你用熒光望佢哋

you see lots of patterns,

你會見到佢哋身上有好多圖案

you can really see the differences among them.

而且會發現佢哋之間好唔同

And in total -- we just reported this last year --

總計嚟講，我哋舊年搵咗 超過兩百種熒光魚

we found over 200 species of biofluorescent fish.

One of my inspirations is French artist and biologist Jean Painlevé.

我其中一個靈感來源嚟自法國藝術家 兼生物學家 Jean Painleve

佢灌注咗呢啲創造嘅精神落生物學度

He really captures this entrepreneuring, creative spirit in biology.

佢會自己設計裝置，製作相機

He would design his own gear, make his own cameras,

and he was fascinated with the seahorse, Hippocampus erectus,

又對 Hippocampus erectus 海馬 情有獨鍾

佢係第一個拍攝海馬生育過程嘅人

and he filmed for the first time the seahorse giving birth.

So this is the male seahorse.

呢隻係雄性海馬

They were one of the first fish to start swimming upright

海馬係最早一批會打棟個身游水嘅魚類

with their brain above their head.

佢哋嘅大腦喺頭部對上

The males give birth,

海馬特別在，雄性負責生育

just phenomenal creatures.

So he stayed awake for days.

因為 Jean Painleve 幾日都唔瞓覺

He even put this electrical visor on his head that would shock him,

因為佢喺自己嘅頭裝一個 可以電到自己嘅電擊裝置

so he could capture this moment.

所以佢成功錄低咗呢個畫面

Now, I wish I could have shown Painlevé

宜家我想畀 Jean Painleve 睇到

the moment where we found biofluorescent seahorses

我哋發現嘅熒光海馬 同佢以前研究嘅屬同一品種

in the exact same species that he was studying.

And here's our footage.

呢度係我哋影低嘅片段

(Music)

（音樂）

They're the most cryptic fish.

熒光海馬係一種最隱秘嘅生物

You could be swimming right on top of them and not see the seahorse.

你會響佢地頭頂游過但又發現唔到佢

They would blend right into the algae, which would also fluoresce red,

佢哋會隱藏喺紅色熒光嘅藻類入面

but they've got great vision,

佢哋嘅視力好好

and they go through this long mating ritual,

佢哋喺漫長嘅交配過程入邊 或者會用到發光效果

and perhaps they're using it in that effect.

But things got pretty edgy

我想分享我一個有趣嘅經歷︰

when we found green fluorescence in the stingray,

當我哋喺刺魟魚羣搵到綠色熒光刺魟

because stingrays are in the Elasmobranch class,

因為魟魚屬於板鰓類動物

which includes ...

板鰓類動物仲包括鯊魚

sharks.

So I'm, like, a coral biologist.

所以我好似個珊瑚科學家咁…

Somebody's got to go down and check to see if the sharks are fluorescent.

畢竟總要有人落水研究鯊魚係咪熒光

And there I am.

而我就係呢個人

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And I was like, "Maybe I should go back to corals."

我心諗 ：我應該返去研究珊瑚

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

It turns out that these sharks are not fluorescent.

最終我哋發現鯊魚唔係熒光

And then we found it.

跟著我哋發現到一隻生物

In a deep, dark canyon off the coast of California,

喺離加州嘅海岸線 一個好深好黑嘅海底洪溝裏面

we found the first biofluorescent swellshark,

我哋第一條搵到熒光頭鮫

right underneath all the surfers.

就喺全部潛水員嘅下邊

就係佢喇

Here it is.

They're just about a meter long. It's called a swellshark.

佢哋只有一米長

人哋叫佢做膨脹鯊

And they call them a swellshark because if they're threatened,

係因為當佢哋受驚嗰陣，佢哋會吸水

they can gulp down water and blow up like an inner tube,

然後好似水管一樣發脹

about twice their size,

膨脹到佢哋身體體積嘅兩倍

and wedge themselves under a rock, so they don't get eaten by a predator.

然後攝喺岩石下底，避過獵食者

And here is our first footage of these biofluorescent swellsharks.

呢度係我哋第一次影熒光頭鮫嘅片

Just magnificent -- I mean, they're showing these distinct patterns,

實在太勁啦

佢哋有獨特嘅圖案

and there are areas that are fluorescent and areas that are not fluorescent,

有啲地方熒光，有啲地方無熒光

but they've also got these twinkling spots on them

佢哋身上有好多閃爍嘅點

that are much brighter than other parts of the shark.

比佢哋身上其他部分都光好多

But this is all beautiful to see.

呢啲圖案好靚

靚到令人讚歎

I was like, this is gorgeous.

但光點對鯊魚有乜嘢特別意義呢？

But what does it mean to the shark?

Can they see this?

佢哋可唔可以睇到自己嘅光點呢？

And we looked in the literature,

當我哋翻查文獻嗰時 發現無記載到鯊魚嘅視力

and nothing was known about this shark's vision.

So I took this shark to eye specialist Ellis Loew at Cornell University,

所以我將鯊魚帶到康奈爾大學 眼科專家 Ellis Loew 嗰度

and we found out that this shark sees discretely and acutely

我哋發現鯊魚視力 對於藍色同綠色好敏銳

in the blue-green interface,

probably about 100 times better than we can see in the dark,

比人喺黑暗裏面對呢兩隻顏色 仲好一百倍左右

but they only see blue-green.

但係佢哋只係睇到藍色同綠色

So what it's doing is taking this blue world

呢啲頭鮫要做嘅就係 響呢個藍色嘅世界

and it's absorbing the blue, creating green.

吸收藍光，發出綠光

It's creating contrast that they can indeed see.

造成對比，令佢哋可以睇到嘢

所以我哋有呢個模型

So we have a model,

showing that it creates an ability for them to see all these patterns.

證明熒光物令鯊魚可以睇到 所有以上嘅圖案

And males and females also have, we're finding,

我哋仲發現雄性同雌性嘅 圖案係唔一樣嘅

distinct patterns among them.

But our last find came really just a few miles from where we are now,

我哋最後一次發現係

喺距離我哋當時幾公里嘅所羅門群島

in the Solomon Islands.

Swimming at night, I encountered the first biofluorescent sea turtle.

我遊夜水嗰時，發現第一隻熒光海龜

So now it's going from fish and sharks into reptiles,

所以話，由魚類，到鯊魚，再到爬行類

都有熒光動物嘅蹤影

which, again, this is only one month old,

呢隻海龜只有一個月大

but it shows us that we know almost nothing

但其實反映緊 我哋對鷹嘴海龜視力嘅一無所知

about this hawksbill turtle's vision.

And it makes me think about how much more there is to learn.

隻海龜令我知道咩叫「學海無涯」

喺所羅門群島呢度 呢種雌性海龜只剩低幾千隻

And here in the Solomon Islands,

there's only a few thousand breeding females of this species left,

and this is one of the hotspots for them.

呢度係其中一個佢地聚集嘅熱門地點

So it shows us how much we need to really protect these animals

我哋真係好需要保護同埋認識佢哋

while they're still here, and understand them.

In thinking about biofluorescence,

喺研究生物熒光性嗰陣

I wanted to know, how deep does it go?

我想知道，佢哋會游到海底幾深？

Does this go all the way to the bottom of the ocean?

佢哋係咪一直游到海底呢？

So we started using submarines, and we equipped them

所以我哋開始用潛水艇

仲喺前面裝咗藍色嘅燈

with special blue lights on the front here.

當我哋下潛，我哋注意到一件重要嘅嘢

And we dropped down,

and we noticed one important thing --

that as we get down to 1,000 meters,

當去到海底一公里嗰陣 我哋見唔到熒光生物

it drops off.

There's no biofluorescent marine life down there, below 1,000 meters --

一公里以下係無螢光生物

差不多乜嘢都無，剩係潻黑一片

almost nothing, it's just darkness.

So it's mainly a shallow phenomenon.

所以熒光生物嘅現象 主要喺淺層海洋發生

And below 1,000 meters,

喺一公里以下，我哋發現生物發光區

we encountered the bioluminescent zone,

where nine out of 10 animals are actually making their own lights

九成嘅動物都會發光，同埋喺度閃爍

and flashing and blinking.

As I try to get deeper,

我嘗試去更深嘅地方

this is slapping on a one-person submarine suit --

呢個係單人潛水器

some people call this my "Jacques Cousteau meets Woody Allen" moment.

有啲人話呢個係潛水家庫斯托 . 賈可 同喜劇家活地艾倫相會嘅一刻

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But as we explore down here,

當我哋繼續深潛 我諗緊點樣小心接觸生物

I was thinking about: How do we interact with life delicately?

Because we're entering a new age of exploration,

因為我哋進入探索新時代 我哋要特別小心謹慎

where we have to take great care,

and we have to set examples how we explore.

我哋要做好探險嘅榜樣

So I've teamed up with roboticist Rob Wood at Harvard University,

所以我同哈佛大學嘅機器人專家 Rob Wood 一齊

and we've been designing squishy underwater robot fingers,

喺度設計軟熟嘅水底機械手

so we can delicately interact with the marine life down there.

令我哋可以小心就住咁接觸動物

The idea is that most of our technologies to explore the deep ocean

大多數探索深海嘅技術 都嚟自油公司同軍隊

come from oil and gas and military,

who, you know, they're not really caring to be gentle.

但佢哋都唔會在意 啲設備對動物係咪溫柔

Some corals could be 1,000 years old.

你唔想用鏟撞埋上千年嘅珊瑚度

You don't want to just go and crush them with a big claw.

So my dream is something like this.

我嘅夢想係好似咁樣︰

At night, I'm in a submarine,

深夜我喺潛艇裡邊

I have force-feedback gloves,

我有一對力傳感手套

and I could delicately set up a lab in the front of my submarine,

我可以喺潛水艇前邊劃出一個實驗室

where the squishy robot fingers

柔軟嘅機械手指就喺嗰度 將樣本放入罐裡邊，用嚟做研究

are delicately collecting and putting things in jars,

and we can conduct our research.

Back to the powerful applied applications.

再嚟睇睇呢啲犀利嘅應用技術

Here, you're looking at a living brain

你而家睇到嘅係一個活生生嘅大腦 利用熒光海洋生物嘅 DNA

that's using the DNA of fluorescent marine creatures,

this one from jellyfish and corals,

——呢度用咗水母同珊瑚蟲嘅 DNA

to illuminate the living brain and see its connections.

去照亮大腦，睇到裏邊嘅神經連接

It's funny that we're using RGB

有趣嘅係，我哋用紅綠藍三原色 去滿足人類對顏色嘅觀感

just to kind of satisfy our own human intuition,

so we can see our brains better.

令我哋可以更清䠂睇到我哋嘅大腦

And even more mind-blowing,

更加震撼嘅係

is my close colleague Vincent Pieribone at Yale,

我同事 Vincent Pieribone 喺耶魯大學

who has actually designed and engineered a fluorescent protein

設計咗一種對電壓有反應嘅熒光蛋白

that responds to voltage.

So he could see when a single neuron fires.

所以佢可以透過蛋白 睇到神經元發出信息

You're essentially looking at a portal into consciousness

成件事就等如 你用海洋生物創造出嚟嘅嘢

去睇人類嘅意識

that was designed by marine creatures.

So this brings me all back to perspective and relationship.

呢樣嘢帶返我去一啲觀念同關係嘅學問

From deep space,

喺宇宙深處 我哋嘅太空好似一個腦細胞

our universe looks like a human brain cell,

and then here we are in the deep ocean,

宜家我哋身處深海當中

and we're finding marine creatures and cells

探索緊可以透視人類思想嘅 海底生物同細胞

that can illuminate the human mind.

And it's my hope that with illuminated minds,

我一直有個願望︰透過發光嘅大腦

我哋可以了解生命點樣有關連

we could ponder the overarching interconnectedness of all life,

and fathom how much more lies in store

同埋喺保持海洋健康嘅前提下

if we keep our oceans healthy.

探索仲有幾多生物隱藏咗

多謝

Thank you.

（掌聲）

(Applause)