万物简史 第401期:浩瀚的海洋(20)

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The first hint of how abundant life is in the deep seas didn't come until as recently as the 1960s with the invention of the epibenthic sled, 直到20世纪60年代，由于发明了拖网，我们才第一次意识到深海的生物确实丰富。

a dredging device that captures organisms not just on and near the seafloor but also buried in the sediments¹ beneath. 那是一种挖掘装置，能捕捉到的不光是海底和海底附近的生物，而且是埋在沉淀物下面的生物。

In a single one-hour trawl along the continental² shelf, at a depth of just under a mile, 在大约1.5公里的深处，

Woods Hole oceanographers Howard Sandler and Robert Hessler netted over 25,000 creatures—worms, starfish, sea cucumbers, and the like—representing 365 species. 伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的海洋学家霍华德·桑德勒和罗伯特·赫斯勒在带着大陆架的一个小时的拖捞中就捕捉到25000个动物——其中有软体虫、海星、海参等等，代表了365个生物种类。

Even at a depth of three miles, they found some 3,700 creatures representing almost 200 species of organism. 即使在深达将近5公里的地方，他们也发现了大约3700个动物，代表差不多200个生物种类。

But the dredge could only capture things that were too slow or stupid to get out of the way. 但是，拖捞只能抓到那些太慢或太笨而来不及让路的家伙。

In the late 1960s a marine³ biologist named John Isaacs got the idea to lower a camera with bait attached to it, 20世纪60年代末，海洋生物学家约翰·艾萨克斯想出个办法，把带有饵食的照相机放到海里，

and found still more, in particular dense⁴ swarms⁵ of writhing⁶ hagfish, a primitive⁷ eel-like creature, as well as darting⁸ shoals of grenadier fish. 发现了更多的动物，尤其是大群大群不停蠕动的盲鳗，那是一种鳗似的原始动物，以及大群大群来回穿梭的长尾鳗，

Where a good food source is suddenly available—for instance, when a whale dies and sinks to the bottom, 据发现，只要哪里突然出现丰富的食料——比如一头沉到海底的死鲸，

as many as 390 species of marine creature have been found dining off it. 便会事多达390种海洋动物前来进食。

Interestingly, many of these creatures were found to have come from vents⁹ up to a thousand miles distant. 有意思的是，据发现，这些动物啦许多，来自1600公里以外的喷气口。

These included such types as mussels and clams¹⁰, which are hardly known as great travelers. 其中包括蚌和蛤蜊，而据知它们很少出远门。

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