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

譯者: YuFei Liang 審譯者: NAN-KUN WU

I'm a marine biologist and an explorer-photographer

我是一名海洋學家，也是一名探險攝影師。

with National Geographic,

我為國家地理工作，

but I want to share a secret.

我要和諸位分享一個秘密。

This image is totally incorrect,

這張照片完全是不對的，

totally incorrect.

完全錯誤。

I see a couple of people crying in the back

我看到有些坐在後面的朋友掩面了，

that I've blown their idea of mermaids.

因為我破壞了他們對美人魚的想象。

All right, the mermaid is indeed real,

好吧，美人魚是存在的，

but anyone who's gone on a dive

但是任何曾經潛水過的人

will know that the ocean looks more like this.

都知道海面之下其實是這樣的。

It's because the ocean is this massive filter,

因為大海是一片龐大的濾光鏡，

and as soon as you start going underwater,

就在你潛下水面之時，

you're going to lose your colors,

你將開始失去捕捉顏色的能力，

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

並且在短時間內，轉變為以黑色為藍色為主。

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

但是我們是人類──陸生哺乳類動物。

And we've got trichromatic vision,

我們擁有三色視覺，

so we see in red, green and blue,

我們看到的顏色由紅，綠，藍組成，

and we're just complete color addicts.

我們對色彩著迷，

We love eye-popping color,

我們鐘愛鮮艷的色彩，

and we try to bring this eye-popping color

而同時我們也在嘗試將這些絢麗的色彩

underwater with us.

帶到水面下。

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

我們擁有漫長且沮喪的，企圖將諸多色彩帶到水下的歷史，

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

從88年前，比爾.郎利和查理.馬丁

who were trying to take the first underwater color photograph.

是最早嘗試在水下拍攝彩色照片的人。

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

他們套著舊式的潛水套，裝著水肺，

where you're pumping air down to them,

水面上的人將空氣通過水肺輸送給他們，

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

他們擁有一個裝滿易爆鎂粉的高浮力浮筒，

and the poor people at the surface are not sure

而水面上的人們不確定發生了什麼事，

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

當他們拉動細繩並對上焦，

然後──轟！一磅的鎂粉就爆炸了。

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

so they could put a little bit of light underwater

藉以這樣的方法，他們能使微弱的光線來到水下，

and get an image like this beautiful hogfish.

以拍到一張像這張隆頭鱼一樣精緻的照片。

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

我是說，這是張漂亮的照片，但它不是真實的。

They're creating an artificial environment

他們人為地製造了一個環境

so we can satisfy our own addiction to color.

使我們的眼睛對於顏色的癡迷能夠被滿足。

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

以另一種角度來看，我們發現，

is that instead of bringing color underwater with us,

與其將色彩帶到水下，

that we've been looking at the blue ocean,

當我觀察藍色的海洋時，

and it's a crucible of blue,

我感到這樣的藍色是一種考驗，

and these animals living there for millions of years

這些動物在這裡生活了數百萬年，

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

並進化出了各種方法，同化這種藍光，

and give off other colors.

進以創造出其他顏色。

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

我有一個關於這個神秘世界真實面貌的例子，

It's like an underwater light show.

這就好像一台水下燈光秀。

(Music)

（音樂）

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

我們所看到的是在藍光照射下拍攝的畫面，

These animals are absorbing the blue light

這些動物們（珊瑚蟲）吸收藍光

and immediately transforming this light.

並即刻將其轉化成別的顏色。

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

所以當你想想看，海洋佔據地球的71％，

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

而藍光可以照射到一千米以下的深海。

As we go down underwater,

當我們潛入水下，

after about 10 meters, all the red is gone.

十米開外，紅光就完全消失了。

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

所以你在海面十米以下看到的任何紅色，

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

都是動物們吸收其他色光，並轉化為自身獨有的紅色。

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

這是我們的星球上，最大的單色藍光區域。

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

我開始探索生物螢光世界的契機是珊瑚蟲。

And I want to give a full TED Talk on corals

我也很想花一整個TED演講的時間來講珊瑚蟲

and just how cool these things are.

他們如此神奇。

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

他們做的其中一件神奇的事，其中一個奇蹟般的工程，

is they produce lots of these fluorescent proteins,

是他們自身會生產螢光蛋白質，

fluorescent molecules.

螢光分子。

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

在這個珊瑚裡，他們可以產出相當於本身重量14％的

could be this fluorescent protein.

螢光蛋白質。

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

所以你不可能，生產出了14％體重的肌肉而不使用他們，

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

所以螢光分子的產生一定有其作用。

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

在過去的10，15年間，這件事對我而言十分特殊，

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

因為這些分子的產生在生物醫學科學上

是革命性的工具，

in biomedical science,

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

這使我們更認識我們自己。

So, how do I study this?

所以，我是如何研究的？

In order to study biofluorescence, we swim at night.

為了研究生物螢光現象，我們夜晚下潛。

And when I started out,

最初的時候，

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

我只是用密封膠帶將藍色的濾鏡黏在我的閃光燈上，

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

這樣我的眼睛就可以看到，

that's being transformed by the animals.

這些藍光是如何被動物們轉化的。

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

我們在為美國自然歷史博物館的一個展做準備，

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

我們試著展現這些珊瑚礁令人驚艷的螢光色，

and something happened that just blew me away:

而一件事發生了，它輕易帶走了我的注意力，

this.

這個。

In the middle of our corals,

在我們的珊瑚中間，

is this green fluorescent fish.

這條綠色螢光魚出現了。

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

這是我們第一次發現綠色螢光色的魚

or any vertebrate for that matter.

甚至是第一次發現螢光的有脊椎生物。

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

我們揉著眼睛，檢查濾鏡，

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

甚至猜測或許有些人對我們的相機動了手腳，想與我們開個玩笑，

but the eel was real.

但是那條鰻魚是真實的。

It was the first green fluorescent eel that we found,

這是我們發現的第一條綠色螢光鰻魚。

and this just changed my trajectory completely.

而這完完全全改變了我的人生軌跡。

So I had to put down my corals and team up

我放下我的珊瑚，

和一位魚類專家，約翰.斯帕克斯合作，

with a fish scientist, John Sparks,

and begin a search around the world

繼而開始在全世界展開調查，

to see how prevalent this phenomenon is.

以勘察這種現象的普遍性。

And fish are much more interesting than corals,

魚類比珊瑚有趣多了，

because they have really advanced vision,

因為他們有著更為出色的視覺，

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

有些魚甚至擁有，與我用藍色閃光燈拍照原理相同的功能，

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

他們眼睛中有著微小的“鏡頭”，可以用於增強螢光色。

So I wanted to seek this out further.

我想要更深入地了解這些東西，

So we designed a new set of gear

所以我們設計了一系列環環相扣的實驗，

and we're scouring the reefs around the world,

我們仔細勘察了全世界的珊瑚礁，

looking for fluorescent life.

以尋找更多螢光生物。

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

這有些像“E.T 企圖打電話回家”

We're out there swimming with this blue light,

我們帶著藍光在水下游動，

and we're looking for a response,

希望能得到回應，

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

希望動物們吸收藍光，並將他們轉化出的光回饋給我們。

And eventually, we found our photobombing Kaupichphys eel.

最終，我們找到了Kaupichphys eel（應該隸屬草鰻科眶鼻鰻屬，譯者注）

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

它們是獨居且十分害羞的鰻魚，我們對它們幾乎一無所知。

They're only about the size of my finger,

它們只有我手指大小，

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

並且99.9％的時間都藏在石頭下。

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

但是這些鰻魚會在滿月的晚上游出來交配

and that full-moon night translates underwater to blue.

滿月使夜裡的水下藍光遍佈，

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

他們或許借此看到彼此，

quickly find each other, mate,

迅速的找到彼此，交配，

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

再回到他們的洞穴里進行漫長的等待。

But then we started to find other fluorescent marine life,

我們開始找到別的熒光海洋生物，

like this green fluorescent bream,

比如這條螢綠色的歐鳊，

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

它額上與頸部都有著豎型條紋，就像賽車前蓋上那樣的，

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

並且這些偽裝性條紋有著與珊瑚礁

同樣的亮度。

as the fluorescent coral there.

After this fish,

在發現這種魚之後，

we were introduced to this red fluorescent scorpionfish

我們又發現了這種反射紅色螢光的鮋，

cloaked and hidden on this rock.

它們隱藏在岩石下，偽裝著。

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

在此之前，我們只知道有螢光紅的海藻，

or red fluorescent coral.

以及螢光紅的珊瑚。

Later, we found this stealthy green fluorescent lizardfish.

在這之後，我們發現這些反射螢光綠的狗母魚。

These lizardfish come in many varieties,

狗母魚有許多種，

and they look almost exactly alike under white light.

它們在正常的光線下幾乎一模一樣。

But if you look at them under fluorescent light,

但如果你在螢光燈下觀察它們，

you see lots of patterns,

你可以看到許多圖案，

you can really see the differences among them.

你可以清楚地看出它們的不同，

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

我們去年的報告指出──

we found over 200 species of biofluorescent fish.

我們總共發現超過200種螢光的魚，

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

我的啟迪者之一，是法國藝術，生物學家吉恩.潘勒偉。

He really captures this entrepreneuring, creative spirit in biology.

他真正拍攝到了這些生物所擁有的，富有創意的精神。

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

他自己製造設備，製作相機，

and he was fascinated with the seahorse, Hippocampus erectus,

他為海馬著迷，直立海馬，

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

他是史上第一個拍攝到了海馬生產畫面的人。

So this is the male seahorse.

這就是雄海馬。

They were one of the first fish to start swimming upright

它們是第一種豎著游泳

且大腦是位於頭頂的魚類。

with their brain above their head.

The males give birth,

雄海馬承擔生育的責任，

just phenomenal creatures.

這種生物如此不同尋常。

So he stayed awake for days.

所以他長時間的拍攝它們，

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

他甚至在頭上放置了電子面罩以電擊自己，

so he could capture this moment.

以便於他可以集中精神拍攝這個畫面。

Now, I wish I could have shown Painlevé

現在，我希望我能讓吉恩看到，

the moment where we found biofluorescent seahorses

我們拍攝的螢光海馬的畫面

in the exact same species that he was studying.

我們拍攝的和他拍攝的是同一種類。

And here's our footage.

這是我們拍攝的畫面。

(Music)

（音樂）

They're the most cryptic fish.

它們是最撲朔迷離的魚類。

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

你可能從它們頭頂游過，卻完全沒能注意到它們的存在。

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

它們與同樣反射螢光紅的水藻融為一體，

but they've got great vision,

它們擁有很好地視力，

and they go through this long mating ritual,

並需要經歷漫長的交配儀式，

and perhaps they're using it in that effect.

這也許也是它們螢光的原因之一。

But things got pretty edgy

但事情變得愈加複雜

when we found green fluorescence in the stingray,

當我們發現魟也會反射螢光綠，

because stingrays are in the Elasmobranch class,

因為魟屬於軟骨魚綱

which includes ...

這個綱目也包括....

sharks.

鯊魚。

So I'm, like, a coral biologist.

所以，我，一個珊瑚生物學家，

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

跑去水下開始觀察鯊魚是否也是螢光的。

And there I am.

嗯，這就是我。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

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

然後我想：“ 嗯，好吧，或許我應該繼續研究我的珊瑚。”

(Laughter)

It turns out that these sharks are not fluorescent.

（笑聲）

我們發現這些鯊魚不是螢光的。

And then we found it.

然後我們找到了這個。

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

在加利福尼亞海岸邊一個幽深的洞穴里，

we found the first biofluorescent swellshark,

我們找到了第一條螢光的頭鮫，

right underneath all the surfers.

就在衝浪者的腳底下。

Here it is.

這就是它。

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

它們大概一米長，叫做頭鮫。

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

人們叫它們頭鮫（swellshark字譯為膨脹的鯊魚）因為它們如果受到驚嚇，

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

它們會吞嚥海水并鼓脹身體，就像身體里有條軟管，

about twice their size,

它們可以膨脹到原本的兩倍，

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

並把身子嵌入岩石中，以保護自己不被捕食者吃掉。

And here is our first footage of these biofluorescent swellsharks.

這是我們拍攝的第一條螢光頭鮫的畫面。

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

就像魔法一樣──我是說，它們身上明麗的圖案們，

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

螢光的頭鮫分佈在一些地區，非螢光的分佈在另一些地區，

but they've also got these twinkling spots on them

但它們身上這些閃爍的圖案，

that are much brighter than other parts of the shark.

遠比其他種類的鯊魚明亮。

But this is all beautiful to see.

看到這些漂亮的鯊魚們，

I was like, this is gorgeous.

我心裡想，這真是太棒了。

But what does it mean to the shark?

但這對鯊魚來說有什麼意義呢？

Can they see this?

它們能看到這些圖案麼？

And we looked in the literature,

於是我們翻閱典籍，

and nothing was known about this shark's vision.

卻發現沒有任何關於這種鯊魚視覺的記錄。

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

所以我們把這種鯊魚交給了康奈爾大學的視覺專家埃利斯.勒夫，

and we found out that this shark sees discretely and acutely

我們發現這種鯊魚的視覺（神經）

in the blue-green interface,

在區分藍色與綠色時尤其敏感，

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

大約比人類在暗處時的敏感程度高100倍，

but they only see blue-green.

但它們只能看到藍綠色。

So what it's doing is taking this blue world

所以它們的視覺大概是，在藍色的世界里，

and it's absorbing the blue, creating green.

吸收藍色光，製造綠色光。

It's creating contrast that they can indeed see.

它們創造對比以使得它們的眼睛能夠看到這些圖案，

So we have a model,

所以我們有了一個模型，

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

展示給我們它們看到這些圖案的能力。

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

我們也發現，雄性與雌性

distinct patterns among them.

身上的圖案是不同的。

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

我們的最後一個發現，離我們現在的所處地只有幾英里遠，

in the Solomon Islands.

在所羅門島。

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

在夜潛時，我與世界上第一種螢光海龜相遇了。

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

所以現在我們從魚和鯊魚跳到了爬行類上，

which, again, this is only one month old,

也就一個月前吧，發現它，

but it shows us that we know almost nothing

但這也警醒了我們，我們對它們，

about this hawksbill turtle's vision.

這種玳瑁的視覺幾乎一無所知。

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

這使我開始思考，我們究竟還有多少需要學習。

And here in the Solomon Islands,

在這裡，在所羅門島，

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

這種玳瑁只剩下數千的雌性還存活著，

and this is one of the hotspots for them.

而這裡是它們的集聚地之一。

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

這告訴我們，保護它們迫在眉睫，

while they're still here, and understand them.

當它們尚未滅絕，在我們還能研究它們的時候。

In thinking about biofluorescence,

在研究生物螢光性的同時，

I wanted to know, how deep does it go?

我也想知道，它的涉獵有多廣？

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

螢光性存在於所有的海洋生物身上麼？

So we started using submarines, and we equipped them

所以我們開始使用潛水艇，裝備它們，

with special blue lights on the front here.

在潛水艇前端制配了特殊的藍色光源。

And we dropped down,

然後我們下水，

and we noticed one important thing --

發現了一個重要的事情──

that as we get down to 1,000 meters,

當我們達到1000米深時，

it drops off.

不知不覺得。

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

在1000米以下，這裡沒有任何螢光的海洋生物，

甚至沒有任何生物，只剩黑暗。

almost nothing, it's just darkness.

So it's mainly a shallow phenomenon.

這是一個不同尋常的現象。

And below 1,000 meters,

在1000米以下，

we encountered the bioluminescent zone,

我們開始到達生物發光體所在的區域，

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

這裡的動物十有八九都能自主發光

and flashing and blinking.

閃光或者閃爍。

As I try to get deeper,

當我試著到達更深的區域時，

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

這是我，在穿一件單人潛水衣──

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

有人說這是我的“庫斯托·賈可會見伍迪·艾倫”的時刻（兩人都是卓越的導演和冒險家）

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But as we explore down here,

但當我們的研究愈加深入，

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

我開始思考：如何能小心翼翼地與這些生命交流？

Because we're entering a new age of exploration,

因為我們到達了一個新的領域，

where we have to take great care,

一個我們需要精心呵護的領域，

and we have to set examples how we explore.

我們的研究應當成為榜樣。

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

所以我與哈佛大學的機器人專家羅布.伍德合作，

and we've been designing squishy underwater robot fingers,

我們開始研發一種柔軟的水下手指機器人，

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

使我們能夠輕柔的觸碰深海之下的海洋生物。

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

我們用以深海探索的大多數技術設備，

come from oil and gas and military,

都依賴於燃油以及軍事相關資源，

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

我們都知道，他們不太在乎溫柔地對待事物。

Some corals could be 1,000 years old.

有些珊瑚可能已經一千歲了，

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

你不會想要用巨大的機械爪來傷害它們，

So my dream is something like this.

所以我期望的是這樣的東西。

At night, I'm in a submarine,

夜晚，我在潛艇里，

I have force-feedback gloves,

我帶著壓感手套，

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

以幫助我小心翼翼的在我的潛艇前建立一個臨時實驗室，

where the squishy robot fingers

柔軟的機械手指，

are delicately collecting and putting things in jars,

小心的收集並把樣本放到廣口瓶中，

and we can conduct our research.

使得我們能夠順利處理我們的研究。

Back to the powerful applied applications.

回到強大的實際應用上。

Here, you're looking at a living brain

我們現在正在看著一個活的大腦，

that's using the DNA of fluorescent marine creatures,

由具有螢光DNA的海洋生物的基因建立，

this one from jellyfish and corals,

這個是來自珊瑚和水母的，

to illuminate the living brain and see its connections.

螢光DNA照亮大腦，并觀察它們之間的聯繫。

It's funny that we're using RGB

這很有趣，我們使用紅，綠，藍三原色

just to kind of satisfy our own human intuition,

以配合我們人類的視覺習慣，

so we can see our brains better.

所以我們能夠更好地觀察它。

And even more mind-blowing,

腦洞大開的話，

is my close colleague Vincent Pieribone at Yale,

我在耶魯的同事文森.派瑞邦

who has actually designed and engineered a fluorescent protein

他設計並製造了一種螢光蛋白，

that responds to voltage.

這種蛋白會因電壓不同有不同的反應。

So he could see when a single neuron fires.

所以我們可以看到，當一個神經傳出信號，

You're essentially looking at a portal into consciousness

你會看到整個大腦的意識改變的過程

that was designed by marine creatures.

而這個創造點子來源於海洋生物。

So this brings me all back to perspective and relationship.

所以，這使我思考，早些時候對於海洋生物的看法與關係。

From deep space,

在太空中，

our universe looks like a human brain cell,

我們的宇宙看上去就像一個人腦細胞，

and then here we are in the deep ocean,

而我們在深海時，

and we're finding marine creatures and cells

我們發現海洋生物與它們的細胞

that can illuminate the human mind.

可以點亮人類的大腦。

And it's my hope that with illuminated minds,

而這是我關於點亮大腦的一個願望，

we could ponder the overarching interconnectedness of all life,

我可以更深入的了解各種生物之間的關聯，

and fathom how much more lies in store

弄懂海洋被潛藏的價值與重要性

if we keep our oceans healthy.

以保持海洋健康為前提。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

（文中提到的Kaupichphys eel，近親為高體眶鼻鰻，感謝Eirc提供幫助）