這個深海“巨人”實際上是由數(shù)百萬個“克隆體”組成的

這個深海“巨人”實際上是由數(shù)百萬個“克隆體”組成的

Just in case you didn’t think the ocean wasn’t alien enough, researchers off Western Australia have filmed an otherworldly underwater creature comprised of millions of interconnected “clones.” Ecstatic scientists are calling the specimen the largest ever discovered.

當(dāng)你覺得海洋還不夠陌生，西澳大利亞州的研究人員拍攝了一種來自另一個世界的水下生物，它由數(shù)百萬相互關(guān)聯(lián)的“克隆體”組成。欣喜若狂的科學(xué)家們稱這個標(biāo)本是迄今為止發(fā)現(xiàn)的最大的標(biāo)本。

“Check out this beautiful *giant* siphonophore Apolemia recorded on #NingalooCanyons expedition,” read a Monday Twitter post by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, noting its “strange UFO-like feeding posture.” Indeed, the deep-sea denizen’s spiral-tacular shape and luminescent color might evoke an interstellar anomaly from a science-fiction flick.

周一，施密特海洋研究所在推特上發(fā)文稱:“請查看#NingalooCanyons探險隊記錄的這種美麗的*巨大*虹吸蟲Apolemia”，并指出它“奇怪的、類似ufo的進食姿勢”。事實上，深海居民的螺旋狀外形和發(fā)光的顏色可能會讓人聯(lián)想起科幻電影中的星際異常。

“Omg I have CHILLS. This is an ANIMAL. I’m guessing it’s over a hundred feet long, forming a spiral in the middle of the deep sea,” weighed in Rebecca Helm, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina Asheville in a lengthy Twitter dissertation. “I’ve gone on numerous expeditions and have never, EVER, seen anything like this.”

“天哪，我渾身發(fā)冷。這是一只動物。”北卡羅萊納阿什維爾大學(xué)的助理教授麗貝卡·赫爾姆在推特上發(fā)表了一篇很長的論文，她在論文中稱:“我猜它有一百多英尺長，在深海中形成了一個螺旋形。”“我參加過無數(shù)次探險，從來沒有見過這樣的東西。”

“This animal is a kind of jelly,” she added, noting that it’s “made of millions of interconnected clones, like if the Borg and the Clone Wars had a baby together.”

“這種動物是一種果凍，”她補充說，并指出它是“由數(shù)百萬相互關(guān)聯(lián)的克隆組成的，就像博格和克隆人戰(zhàn)爭一起生了孩子一樣。”

And if that wasn’t impressive enough, the jellyfish expert said that “there are about a dozen different jobs a clone can do in the colony, & each clone is specialized to a particular task.” As depicted in an accompanying video, one of the aquatic colony’s jobs is feeding, which the siphonophore accomplishes by dangling its tendrils in a line formation in the open ocean. This particular specimen is unique, Helm points out, because it is “hunting in a galaxy-like spiral, the long wisp-like tentacles draped below.”

如果這還不夠令人印象深刻的話，這位水母專家說:“在這個群體中，一個克隆體可以做大約12種不同的工作，而且每個克隆體都專門從事一項特定的任務(wù)。”正如在視頻中所描述的那樣，這個水生群落的工作之一就是進食，這是通過在開闊的海洋中懸掛卷須來完成的。Helm指出，這個特別的標(biāo)本是獨一無二的，因為它是“在星系般的螺旋中捕食，長長的如縷狀的觸手垂在下面。”

And at almost 50 feet in diameter and about 154 feet long, the siphonophore could be the largest one “ever recorded,” writes Schmidt Ocean on Twitter. To put the find in perspective, Helm said that most of the colonies she encounters are between about 7 inches and 3 feet long.

施密特海洋所在推特上寫道:直徑近50英尺，長度約154英尺，這可能是“有記錄以來”最大的水母。赫爾姆說，她發(fā)現(xiàn)的大多數(shù)都在7英寸到3英尺之間。

Social-media oceanographers are going gaga over the discovery.

社交媒體海洋學(xué)家對這一發(fā)現(xiàn)感到興奮不已。