具有特異功能的十種水生動物(上)

Humans have a lot of talents. Some of us can juggle, others can play the guitar, while others can juggle guitars (probably). Yet most of what we can do relies on our brains and hands. That means that there are a whole bunch of things we'll never be able to do, like tie ourselves in a knot, liquefy our bodies to squeeze through small spaces, or swallow a guitar (short of some horrifying juggling accident). Those kinds of talents are left to other animals, like the underwater critters here.

人們有很多才能。有人會雜耍，有人會彈吉他，還有人（可能）會用吉他玩雜耍。而我們所做的一切大部分依靠我們的大腦和雙手。這也就意味着有很多事我們永遠也做不了，比如把自己打成一個結，把身體融化後鑽進細小的空間，或者吞掉一把吉他（某些令人震驚的雜耍除外）。這些才藝屬於其它動物，比如下面這些水生動物。

k Swallowers Eat Enormous Prey

10.黑色饕餮魚捕殺大型獵物

The horrifying black swallower has a talent that's given away by the huge sack of a stomach that dangles beneath its body. Chiasmodon niger has many of the features that make other deep sea fish frightening, like its bulging black eyes and abominable teeth. Yet it's the fish's ability to swallow its prey whole that makes it stand out. When the black swallower finds something it wants to munch on, it darts out, grabs hold, and inches its jaws over the victim until the entire prey is consumed.

黑色饕餮魚長相很嚇人，身體下面藏着一個巨大的胃，它們因此而具有一項特長。黑色叉齒魚（Chiasmodon niger）有許多令其它深海魚害怕的特徵，如腫脹的黑色大眼和讓人生厭的牙齒。然而這類魚天生能一口吞掉整個獵物——在魚類中"出類拔萃"。當黑色叉齒魚發現了它想吃的東西，它會突然衝出來，一把抓住獵物，張開嘴一點一點吞噬獵物，直到把獵物全部吃掉。

It's not fussy about what it eats, and it can swallow animals twice its length and over 10 times its mass. Its stomach becomes so stretched that it ends up translucent, so you can see the swallower's latest meal being digested. And digestion takes so long that the swallower can't process some of its bigger targets before they start to decompose. This ends up filling the stomach with gas, and turns the fish into a balloon. It's these inflated black swallowers that end up floating to the surface, and they are the ones we find most often.

它們不挑食，能吞下比自己長兩倍、大十倍的動物。它們的胃被撐得緊緊的，變得半透明，你能看見它們正在消化最近吃下去的東西。消化花的時間比較長，有些大傢伙不腐爛，叉齒魚還消化不了。所以它們的胃裏充滿了氣體，身體變成了一個氣球。這些膨脹的黑色饕餮魚常常浮在水面上，也就是我們常常見到的那些。

Slugs Can Perform Photosynthesis

9.海蛞蝓可以進行光合作用

The sea slug Elysia chlorotica has an ability that's never been found in any other animal—it's able to photosynthesize its own food using sunlight. The ancestors of the slug lived on a diet of algae. The slug is able to steal the chloroplasts—organelles that perform photosynthesis—from the algae and incorporate them into its own cells. This gives the slug a distinctive green color, and they have been nicknamed "leaves that crawl."

綠葉海蛞蝓（Elysia chlorotica）有一種獨一無二的能力——它能通過光合作用的方式爲自己產生食物。蛞蝓的祖先以藻類爲食。蛞蝓能盜用藻類的葉綠體——進行光合作用的細胞器官——並將它們融進自己的細胞中。這讓蛞蝓呈現耀眼的綠色，還爲它們得到一個暱稱："爬行的葉子"。

Even more surprisingly, the slug has stolen genes from the algae and is able to produce its own chloroplasts. Researchers found the genes even in juveniles that have never eaten. Yet in an added wrinkle, other scientists have found that the slugs are able to go for long periods of time in the dark without eating, and still survive quite happily. It suggests that the photosynthesis may not be the only key to their survival strategy. However much importance it has for the slug, it's a unique talent that no other animal can boast.

更讓人驚訝的是，蛞蝓還盜用藻類的基因，能產生自己的葉綠體。研究人員在蛞蝓幼體體內發現了還沒吃過的東西的基因。而在後來新設計的研究中，其它科學家發現蛞蝓能夠在黑暗中長時間前行而不吃東西，而且活得很好。這表明光合作用可能不是它們唯一的生存戰略。無論這對蛞蝓多麼重要，這種特異功能是其它動物無法擁有的。

arians Heal Better Than Wolverine

8.渦蟲的復原能力比狼獾還強

Planarians are a type of freshwater flatworm, which is an animal notable for its ability to regenerate. In fact, their regenerative abilities have given them two list-worthy talents. If you decapitate a flatworm, it will grow a new head. That's impressive by itself, but researchers have found that the new head gets the memories that developed before the old one was removed.

渦蟲是一種淡水扁形動物，以其再生能力而出名。實際上，它們的再生能力賦予它們兩種值得列在這裏的才能。如果你切掉扁蟲的頭部，它會長出一個新的。這讓人們印象深刻，但是研究員發現新長出的頭具有切去舊頭之前的記憶。

Scientists trained some planarians to tolerate light, which the worms normally avoid, then chopped off their heads. Two weeks later the worms had regenerated their missing noggins, but retained the learned tolerance to brightness. The researchers aren't certain how this happened. It may have been a change to the animal's DNA, or an unknown her team of researchers have found that a single cell has the ability to regrow an entire body. They bombarded a flatworm with radiation until its tissues were destroyed and its cells were no longer able to divide properly. They then injected a single cell from another adult, which was able to regrow every single part of the animal. This shows that adult stem cells in flatworms are able to turn into literally any body part, unlike adult human stem cells, which tend to be more limited.

科學家訓練一些渦蟲忍耐光線——渦蟲一般躲避光線，然後切掉它們的頭。兩週以後，渦蟲長出了失去的腦袋，但是保留了忍耐明亮的習慣。研究員不確定這是怎麼發生的。這可能是因爲動物的DNA發生了改變，或者未知的生理反應。另一組研究員發現，一個細胞有能力再生形成一個整體。它們用放射線輻射渦蟲，破壞它的身體組織，讓它的細胞不能再正常分裂。然後注入一個從另一個成年渦蟲身上取下的單細胞——它能再生出所有部位。這基本表明，渦蟲體內的成年幹細胞能夠轉變成身體的任何一部分，不像人體幹細胞那樣有限。

ish Tie Themselves In Knots

7.盲鰻把自己打成結

We've mentioned hagfish here before, but being around for 300 million years gives you plenty of time to develop more than one interesting trait. There's one talent possessed by these gooey not-really-fishes that we've never covered—hagfish are able to tie themselves in knots, an ability that comes in useful both in defense and when catching prey.

我們曾提到過盲鰻，但是大約3億年的生存歷史讓它有足夠的時間發展多項有趣的特點。這些又軟又黏又並不真是魚的動物，有一項我們未曾提到的才能——盲鰻能把自己打成結。這種能力在防禦和捕獵時發揮作用。

When hagfish hunt, they do so by searching for fish burrows. When they find a fish hiding in a hole, they lunge face-first into the hole to pull it out. But sticking your head into a tunnel while your rear end flails around isn't the easiest way to pull out a fish that doesn't want to be eaten. To make it easier, the hagfish tie their rear end into a knot which is bigger than the hole. This gives them a perch around the top so they can pull themselves—and their lunch—back out. Hagfish have also turned this ability into an escape trick. If they're being held at one end, they'll tie the free end into a knot. They can then push the knot up their body, and when it reaches whatever's gripping the hagfish, the knot pushes against the predator and pulls the hagfish free.

盲鰻通過搜尋魚兒的洞穴進行捕獵。當它們發現洞裏藏着一條魚時，它們臉朝洞穴衝進去將魚拉出來。但是腦袋伸入地道、尾巴在外面擺動——要用這種方式抓出一條不想被吃掉的魚並不容易。方便起見，盲鰻會將尾巴打成一個比洞口大的結。這樣，它們在高處就有了位置上的優勢，能夠將自己——和午餐——拉出來。這個本事還是盲鰻逃生的技能。如果它們頭尾一端被捉住了，它們會將另一端打成結，然後把這個疙瘩順着身體移動。當結接近抓住盲鰻的動物時，這個結將對手推開，盲鰻就自由了。

Cucumbers Liquefy Themselves

6.海蔘會融化

Sea cucumbers have a famous defense mechanism that we've told you about before. They eject their guts at predators, and regrow them later. Yet they have a second, equally unusual defense mechanism—they can liquefy themselves. Essentially, they unhook the bonds keeping their cells together and let themselves flow into (or out of) awkward spaces.

海蔘有一套出名的防禦機制，我們之前提到過。它們將自己的內臟朝對手彈出去，之後再重新長出。它們還有第二套防禦機制，同樣不同尋常——它們能將自己融化掉。本質上，它們斷開連接細胞的紐帶，讓自己流進（或流出）細小的縫隙。

When it's where it wants to get to, the sea cucumber can solidify itself again and become difficult to extract from a hiding place. This talent is so extreme that it's even possible for a cucumber to liquefy itself to death. It would turn purely into goo, and would simply flow through your fingers if you were holding it (at which point you would tell aquarium staff, "I swear I didn't do anything!").

如果這個地方是它想去的，海蔘能將自己再變堅固，這樣就很難從藏身之地被拉出去。這項才能很極端，過分融化甚至能要了海蔘的小命。它會變得十分粘稠，如果你拿在手裏，它會直接從你指縫間流走（你會對水族館的工作人員說："我發誓我什麼都沒幹！"）。

翻譯：羅惠月 來源：前十網