几千年来 猎人与猎物间的战争
Over the millennia, the battle between predator and prey
为海底生物的“军备竞赛”推波助澜
has fueled an evolutionary arms race under the sea.
大自然总是将她的设计升级
Mother Nature is always updating her designs
并淘汰过时的那个
and making old ones redundant.
动物们必须不断提高
Animals have had to constantly refine
它们的进攻和防御能力
their offensive and defensive capabilities.
结果可能像科幻小说
The result can be pure science fiction.
安康鱼和蝎子鱼的模样非常怪异
Angler and scorpion fish are as bizarre as they come.
它们是海绵的专业模仿者
They’re expert mimics of sponges,
但有世界上最快速的一击
but have one of the fastest strikes on Earth.
不过它们肯定赢不了选美比赛
But they’re certainly not out to win a beauty prize.
当它碰到同类时 爱是盲目的
When it comes to some of these creations, love is certainly blind.
从人类历史开始时 我们就对这无数生命着迷不已
This myriad life has enthralled us since the beginning of human history.
我们起源于海洋
We did originally evolve from the sea.
自从早期人类首次出现
And ever since early humans first emerged,
我们就被拉回到海岸边
we’ve been drawn back to its shores.
海鲜是受人青睐的食物
Seafood has been a favored diet.
贝壳成为货币和宝石
Shells have been our money and jewelry.
珊瑚石灰岩铺平道路
Coral limestone paves our roads.
沙子筑成房♥屋
Sand cements our houses.
我们的神话和传说 书籍与影片
Our myths and legends, books and films
充满了源自海洋的角色
are all full of characters derived from the sea.
当光线黯淡 主角开始变换
And as light fades, these characters begin to change
珊瑚礁的故事变得大为不同
and the story of coral moves into a very different narrative.
大型掠食性鱼类巡游在珊瑚礁边缘 寻找致命一击
Big predatory fish cruise the reef’s edge, searching for a final kill.
昼行鱼匆忙躲藏
Daytime fish hurry into hiding.
这是个危险的过渡时间
This is a dangerous time of transition.
整个珊瑚礁里开始换岗
All across the reef, there is a changing of the guard.
夜班开始了
The night shift has begun.
人类对海洋知之甚少
Little is known about our oceans.
火星地表都被更精确地绘制过
The surface of Mars is better mapped.
大多数活珊瑚在水下浅于50米的地方
Most living coral reefs descend to only 50 meters or so,
那是由于对阳光的依赖
due to the reliance on sunlight.
但有些地方海床下降到11000米
But the seafloor falls to 11 kilometers in places.
这就是我们所说的“深渊”
This is what we call the abyss.
夜幕下的珊瑚礁使我们感觉到
Night-time on the reef gives us a sense
深渊中可能的样子
of what this abyss might be like.
漆黑的一片富有活力 满是奇异生物
The inky black is very much alive and full of aliens.
在长有深海珊瑚的特殊地点
In special places where reefs drop to great depth,
深海浮游生物上升到水面
deep sea plankton rise to the surface
捕食浅水浮游植物
to hunt shallow water phytoplankton.
它们游经数百米
They travel hundreds of meters.
数以亿计
They number in their billions
每晚重复旅程
and they repeat the journey every night.
这是动物王国里最壮观的迁徙之一
It’s one of the biggest migrations in the animal kingdom.
浮游生物猎人和猎物间的追逐
The chase of plankton-hunter and plankton-prey
引发了晚间珊瑚礁中更大的反应链
triggers a larger chain reaction right across the night-time reef.
篮海星从巢穴中出来
Baitfish snatch mouthfuls,
伸出网状触角
while basking stars emerge from their lairs
饵鱼借机大口抢食
and extend web-like arms.
当浮游生物疯狂地相互沟通时
The water flashes with color
海水闪烁着五彩颜色
as the plankton frantically communicate with one another.
珊瑚并不是无所事事的旁观者
Coral is not an idle bystander.
珊瑚礁已成为一堵满是嘴巴的墙
The reef has become a wall of mouths.
珊瑚真正的动物本性显示出来
The true animal nature of coral is revealed.
配备有毒刺和酸液的珊瑚虫
Equipped with poisonous harpoons and acid,
每一只都是一个无法逃脱的致命陷阱
each polyp becomes a deadly trap from which escape is impossible.
鲶鱼在行进中进食
Meanwhile, catfish eat on the run.
鹦嘴鱼睡觉时把眼睛睁得大大的
Parrotfish sleep with eyes wide open
或是隐藏在薄粘液膜中
or conceal themselves in mucus cocoons.
没有手电筒的话 人类无法在夜间视物
Without torches, humans are blind at night.
在水下 我们几乎不能辨别方位
Underwater, we’d barely know up from down.
但水下猎手却没有一点不便
But the undersea hunters are not at all disadvantaged.
它们用震动 电子脉冲和化学物质
Instead of sight, they use vibration, electrical impulses
代替视觉 来追踪猎物
and chemical traces to find what they’re after.
石头墙 其实是石头鱼在等待伏击
Stone walls are, in fact, living stonefish waiting in ambush…
长有利齿的鰧鱼潜伏在淤泥中
..while the sharp teeth of stargazers lurk beneath the muck.
猎物很容易在不知情时游向危险
It’s easy to swim towards danger without realizing it.
这只海葵已成为连环杀手
This anemone has become a serial killer.
一只幸运的乌贼逃走了 并释放墨水掩盖其踪迹
A lucky squid escapes, releasing ink to cover its tracks.
海龙看着鱼儿四散
A pipefish looks on,
并有更多沦为受害者
as fish scatter and more fall victim.
下降到海床上
Down on the seabed,
食腐动物收集残羹剩饭
scavengers collect the scraps…
狮子鱼用长刺捕捉毫无戒心的猎物
..while lionfish use their long spines to herd unsuspecting prey.
所有地方都有生命活动
There is activity in all directions,
形形色♥色♥的夜间猎人吃饱了
as night hunters of every description eat their fill.
躄鱼回来了 适得其所
The anglerfish is back and now completely in its element.
也许它的动作算不上优雅
It may not move with grace,
但那对捕食没什么影响
but that doesn’t affect its chances for a kill.
它所需要的只是等待食物游进自己的嘴里
All it needs to do is wait for a meal to come to its mouth.
说到夜间狩猎
When it comes to nocturnal hunting,
海鳝因其邪恶外表而闻名
moray eels are known for their viciousness.
但其它猎手就不那么容易认出了
But other killers are not so easy to spot.
虾蛄老练又野蛮
Mantis shrimp are sophisticated and savage.
它们拥有极佳视力
They’re armed with supreme eyesight
积极捕食猎物
and actively hunt live prey
其它甲壳动物 比如龙虾
while other crustaceans, like lobsters,
则在海底寻找剩菜
scour the sea floor for leftovers.
由于之前的繁忙时光
With a busy time ahead,
尽管周围有这么多的活动 昼行鱼仍试着睡觉
day fish try to sleep despite all the activity.
有些好像飘在黑暗中的幽灵
Some drifting like ghosts in the dark.
小丑鱼也试着睡觉 但并不容易
The anemone fish are also trying to sleep, but aren’t finding it easy.
它们的扁平伙伴 斑点蟹 正在享受宵夜
Their flat-mates, the dotted crabs, are enjoying a midnight snack.
最活跃的夜间徘徊者是贝壳
Some of the most active night prowlers are shells.
大多数人只能从贝壳店或沙滩上的死贝壳了解它们
Many of us only know them from shell shops or dead on the beach.
但活贝壳更珍贵
But shells alive are much more precious –
它们好像吉普赛大篷车 在不断地移♥动♥中被海水擦亮
gypsy caravans, varnished by the oceans, constantly on the move.
黑暗也适合求爱的花斑连鳍衔鱼
Darkness also suits courting mandarin fish.
它们有很强的性冲动
They have an unusually high sex drive
如果需要的话 它们每晚都可以产卵
and can spawn every night if the urge takes them.
尽管水下的灯光可让我们匆忙一瞥
Although our underwater lights give us a glimpse,
我们仍然对珊瑚礁的夜间活动知之甚少
we still know very little about what happens on a reef at night.
而我们那种无理由的恐惧使之更加难以被了解
And our unwarranted fears have made it harder to learn.
我们对海洋的态度一直充满矛盾
Our attitude to the sea has been full of contradiction.
一方面我们尊敬它
On the one hand we’ve revered it,
另一方面我们将它视为敌人
on the other we’ve seen it as an enemy –
黑暗 深不可测 满是怪兽
dark and unfathomable, full of dragons and monsters.
深海怪兽早就
These monsters of the deep
被证实是我们虚构的
have long been proven figments of our collective imagination.
但有些人相信它们仍然以鲨鱼的形式存在
But some believe they still exist in the form of sharks.
真是天大的错误
How wrong they are.
这些神奇的生物比恐龙出现得还早
These magnificent creatures predate dinosaurs.
和珊瑚一样 它们在几次大灭绝中幸存
Like coral, they’ve survived several mass extinctions
并在塑造海洋进化的过程中扮演了同等重要的角色
and have played an equally vital role in shaping ocean evolution.
鲨鱼已在海洋中漫游了超过4亿年
Sharks have been roaming our seas for over 400 million years.
化石记录显示千万个物种出现并消亡
Fossil records show that thousands of species have come and gone,
但其中370种还和我们在一起
of which 370 are with us today.
它们在世界各地都能找到
They can be found worldwide,
有许多依赖于珊瑚礁生态系统 以获得保护和食物
with many dependent on coral reef ecosystems for protection and food.
作为顶级掠食者
As top predators,
鲨鱼影响了整个食物链的
sharks have influenced adaptation and evolution
适应性和进化
all the way down the food chain.
但是 与传统认识相反
But, contrary to popular myth,
鲨鱼不仅仅是依靠本能的捕食机器
sharks are not just instinctive eating machines.
许多种鲨鱼展示了强大的解决问题的能力
Many species exhibit powerful problem-solving skills
它们的脑和体重比与其它更高级的脊椎动物
and their brain-to-body-mass ratio is similar to many mammals
及许多哺乳动物相似
and other higher order vertebrates.
所以它们聪明 好奇 好交际
So they are as intelligent, curious and social
和某些我们更喜欢的动物一样
as some of our more favored animals.