海底兩萬(wàn)里 第374期 第25章 地中海四十八小時(shí)(3)
Other rays passed by so quickly I couldn't tell if they deserved that name "eagle ray" coined by the ancient Greeks, or those designations of "rat ray," "bat ray," and "toad ray" that modern fishermen have inflicted on them. Dogfish known as topes, twelve feet long and especially feared by pers, were racing with each other. Looking like big bluish shadows, thresher sharks went by, eight feet long and gifted with an extremely acute sense of smell. Dorados from the genus Sparus, some measuring up to thirteen decimeters, appeared in silver and azure costumes encircled with ribbons, which contrasted with the dark color of their fins; fish sacred to the goddess Venus, their eyes set in brows of gold; a valuable species that patronizes all waters fresh or salt, equally at home in rivers, lakes, and oceans, living in every clime, tolerating any temperature, their line dating back to prehistoric times on this earth yet preserving all its beauty from those far-off days. Magnificent sturgeons, nine to ten meters long and extremely fast, banged their powerful tails against the glass of our panels, showing bluish backs with small brown spots; they resemble sharks, without equaling their strength, and are encountered in every sea; in the spring they delight in swimming up the great rivers, fighting the currents of the Volga, Danube, Po, Rhine, Loire, and Oder, while feeding on herring, mackerel, salmon, and codfish; although they belong to the class of cartilaginous fish, they rate as a delicacy; they're eaten fresh, dried, marinated, or salt-preserved, and in olden times they were borne in triumph to the table of the Roman epicure Lucullus.
在被陣陣電光照礙通亮的水流中間，有一些長(zhǎng)一米的八目鰻婉蜒地游來(lái)游去，這種魚差不多在所有氣候不同的地方都有。穌魚類的尖嘴魚，寬五英尺，肚腹白色，脊背友色帶斑點(diǎn)，像寬大的圍巾被水流漂著滾來(lái)滾去。其他的鯽魚類走過得很快，我想法認(rèn)識(shí)它們是否應(yīng)得希臘人給它們的“鷹”的稱號(hào)，或者近代漁人很離奇地給它們的“老鼠”、“蟾涂”和“編幅”的名字。好些鴦形鮫有十二英尺長(zhǎng)，這是潛水人特別害怕的東西，這些鮫彼此在水里比賽速度。梅狐貍，長(zhǎng)八英尺，嗅覺極端敏銳，像淡藍(lán)色的陰影一樣在水中出現(xiàn)。扁魚是綢魚屬，有些長(zhǎng)至十三分米，全身銀白和天藍(lán)，纏上條紋，特別顯出它們的鰭的深黑色調(diào)；這是古時(shí)專用來(lái)祭美神維納斯的魚，它們的眼睛嵌在金色眉睫里。美麗的鰭魚，長(zhǎng)丸至十米，是走動(dòng)很快的動(dòng)物，有力的尾巴仲撞客廳的玻璃，顯出它們有小栗色斑點(diǎn)的淡藍(lán)脊背，它們跟鮫魚相像，但沒有鮫魚的氣力大。這魚在所有的海洋中都可碰見，春季，它們喜歡上溯到大河里。但在地中海的這些不同魚類中，當(dāng)諾第留斯號(hào)上浮接近水面時(shí)我可以最有益處地觀察到的，是屬于骨質(zhì)魚組的第六十三屬。那是脊背藍(lán)黑，肚腹帶銀甲，背上線條發(fā)出金黃微光的鰭鯨魚。這類魚是以跟著船只一齊走出名的，在熱帶的炎熱天空下，它們找到了船的涼快陰影來(lái)躲藏：果然事情是這樣，它們陪著諾第留斯號(hào)，像從前陪著拉·比路斯的船只一樣。在長(zhǎng)久的時(shí)間內(nèi)，它們同我們的船比賽競(jìng)走。我不停地欣賞這些魚，它們生來(lái)就是為便于賽跑的，它們的頭很小，身子很光滑，作紡錘形，有些身長(zhǎng)超過三米，它們的胸鰭特別有力，尾巴作叉形。它們行動(dòng)時(shí)作三角形，像可以和它們比快的某種鳥類一樣，因此，古時(shí)人就說(shuō)它們是熟習(xí)幾何學(xué)和戰(zhàn)略砌。
