蓝色星球（2001）

... to a world completely separate from the midwater above.
到一个与其他水域
At around three hundred metres,
完全分离的世界
the drop off levels out and
水深300公尺的地方坡度渐缓
we move out onto the Continental slope.
我们进入了大♥陆♥斜坡
This stretches for about a hundred and
斜坡从海岸起绵延约
fifty miles from the coast, sloping in the gentle gradient
150英里 坡度极缓
down to a maximum depth of four thousand metres.
深入深海四千公尺
Water temperatures down here drop below 4 degrees centigrade and
水温在此降到摄氏四度以下
the pressure can reach up to 400 times that of the surface.
压力可达水面的400倍
Without the lights of the submersible it would be completely dark.
关掉潜水艇的光 就是伸手不见五指的漆黑
The water is crystal clear because
因为有机物的缺乏
there's so little organic matter.
海水是晶澈透明
Only three per cent of the potential food in the
只有大约3%来自水面的食物
surface waters reaches the Continental slope.
可以下沉到大♥陆♥斜坡
At first sight it appears a lifeless desert
这里给人的第一印象 像是荒凉的沙漠
but take a closer look and you notice a network of tracks and trails.
但是仔细瞧瞧 就会发现像网络般的足迹印记
There is life even down here.
这里也是有生物活动的
These animals would die immediately if brought
这些生物是不能捉到上岸的
to the surface in nets, so you can only see them
它们一离开这里就会死亡 所以我们只能从潜水艇中
behaving normally from submersibles.
望见它们平常的生活形态
Many are new to science.
许多都是科学上的新发现
The deep sea floor is dominated by echinoderms
深海海床多被棘皮动物
sea cucumbers, brittle stars and sea urchins.
海参，阳燧足还有海胆占据
There are literally millions of them
一共好几百万只
marching across the seabed, hoovering up any
在海床上行进
edible particles there might be in the sediment.
找寻还可以吃的剩余物质
They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes
这些动物有各种 千奇百怪的形状大小
and though they are very thinly spread
虽然它们看似松散地 分布在海床上
the deep ocean floor is so vast that
但是深海的海床实在太广大
these are among the most numerous animals on the planet.
它们的总数量还是世界之最
Their spikes are good for locomotion and defence
它们身上的刺 适合用来移♥动♥及防御
but perhaps not quite so good when it comes to mating.
但是在交♥配♥时则显得碍事
Finding a mate in this largely empty sea floor could be a problem
在这片广大荒凉的海床上 寻找伴侣是一件麻烦事
so some urchins stay together in herds
所以有些海胆都群居在一起
to be sure that they're never too far from a potential partner.
才不会离可以交♥配♥的同类太远
Rocky outcrops provide good anchorage for animals that rely on food
崎岖的露头刚好让一些 等待食物
that might drift past.
飘过的动物攀住固定
These crinoids, or sea lilies
这些是海百合
look like plants, but are in fact animals.
长得像植物，但其实是动物
Their long stalks ensure that their umbrella
长长的茎让伞状的进食触手
of feeding tentacles are positioned
可以在海流找到
to best effect in the current.
最有利的位置
Particles are swept onto the arms
微小物质被扫到这些触手上
and carried down to a mouth in the middle of the umbrella.
带到伞状构造中♥央♥的口部
These sudden movements swat away tiny amphipods
这些突然的动作可将一些
that try to steal the sea lily's captures.
想来抢食的排骨虾驱离
Coral reefs are not supposed to exist in total darkness
珊瑚礁应该是不可能 在一片黑暗中存在
but recently a new kind of coral was found as deep as two thousand metres.
但最近有人在两千公尺深海 发现一种新品种的珊瑚
ln the cold waters of a Norwegian Fjord
在冰冷的挪威♥海♥湾
there was a deep sea reef thirty metres high
有种高30公尺长
and two hundred metres long.
200公尺的珊瑚
This coral gets no energy from the sun
这种珊瑚的能量不是来自阳光
so it has to be very efficient in catching food.
所以必须很有效地捕捉猎物
lts polyps are far larger than those of shallow water corals.
所以它的水螅体比 浅水域的珊瑚要长得多
These are, in fact, the largest coral polyps in the ocean.
这是世界上最长的水螅体
They belong to the deep sea mushroom coral
属于深海蕈珊瑚的水螅体
Their three centimetre long tentacles
它的触手有三公分长
can catch far larger prey than other corals can.
可以抓到比较大的猎物
This necessity to capture every particle of food
这种需要在沙漠般荒凉的深海
that comes within reach in this near desert
捕捉任何可食物质的习性
has radically changed many animals.
改变了许多动物
Most Tunicates are filter feeders
大部分的海鞘是过滤性摄食者
but this one, uniquely, has become a predator
但这只特别的海鞘 却是猎食者
and it's greatly enlarged siphon has been converted into a trap.
超大型的虹吸管 成了一个捕食陷阱
Most sea cucumbers stay firmly on the bottom
大部分的海蔘 都是固定在海床上的
but not this extraordinary deep sea species.
但是奇妙的深海品种则不然
lts skirts of skin allow it to swim
它拥有裙状的表皮
hundreds of metres above the sea floor.
可以在海床上方巡游数百公尺
Eventually it will descend and
慢慢地它会开始下沉
with luck, will land on fresh feeding grounds.
如果运气好 就会掉在一个有食物的地方
This, though, has to be the most
但是这个
extraordinary animal design of all.
绝对是动物构造之最
lt's a polychaete worm and normally
它是多毛虫
you would expect the long pulsating body to be stuck firmly in the sediment.
通常它长而带律动的身体 是固定在的海底的
This worm, alone in its group
但是这只多毛虫
swims in the open water.
却可以在海里游动
Propelling itself with its yellow frill
借着黄色的绉折推进
it moves about and so finds new sources of food
他可以漫游海中寻找食物
or maybe succeeds in escaping from a predator.
或是逃离猎食者的追赶
This is Chimaera, a close relative of the sharks
这是鲨鱼的近亲银鲛
less than a metre long.
身长不到一公尺
Sensory pits on its chin help it hunt
在下颚部为的感应器
prey on the bottom, while its surprisingly
有助于它的深海猎食
large eyes may help it spot bioluminescence.
而它特大的眼睛 则可以看见生物光
Large fish are rare down here
在这里大型鱼很稀少
there's simply not enough live prey to sustain them.
因为食物不够养不活它们
Most have become scavengers.
大部分的动物都是食腐动物
A dead tuna has attracted a deep sea conger eel...
鲔鱼的尸体引来了一只深海鳗
... and a six gilled shark.
还有一只灰六鳃鲨
These monsters grow to eight metres long.
这种鱼类可以长到8公尺长
Six gills are living fossils.
灰六鳃鲨是活化石
For a hundred and fifty million years
1亿5千万年来
they have existed unchanged
都不曾演化改变过
living in water as deep as two thousand five hundred metres.
它们活动范围 可达2500公尺深海
Very few people have ever been lucky enough
很少有人可以幸运地
to glimpse these sharks from submersibles
在潜水艇中看见它们
and we know almost nothing about their behaviour.
我们对它们的习性 几乎一无所知
The body of a tuna is a substantial meal
鲔鱼尸体是一顿大餐
but just occasionally a really gigantic
但是偶而也有更巨大
corpse drifts down to the deep sea floor.
的尸体会沉到深海底
This is the freshly dead carcass of a thirty ton Grey whale.
这是才沉到一英里海底的尸体 一只30公吨♥重的灰鲸
lt's resting on the sea floor a mile down.
才刚沉到
lt's only been on the bottom for six weeks
海底6星期
but already it has attracted hundreds of hagfish.
但已吸引了无数盲鳗前来
These ancient scavengers are nearly always the first to discover a fallen body
这些远古的食腐动物 几乎都是第一个抵达现场的
and are attracted from miles around.
它们都是从好几英里以外而来
They lack jaws and rasp at the flesh
这些盲鳗没有颚部
with two rows of horny teeth on either side of
用两排尖刺般的牙齿
their sucker-like mouths.
将腐肉挫下
Next to arrive, a sleeper shark
下一个来到的是一只眠鲨
a real deep sea specialist.
一只真正的深海猎食专家
They grow to over seven metres long
可以长到超过7公尺长
and have never been filmed at such a depth before.
从来没有在如此深的海中 拍到过它们的身影
The gaping wounds in the whale's flank are its work.
灰鲸侧腹部巨大的伤口 就是它的杰作
Unlike the hagfish, it has powerful jaws
不像盲鳗，它有强有力的颚部
so is able to rip off huge chunks of meat.
可以撕下大块的肉
Sharks, hagfish and a whole succession of
这具灰鲸尸体可以让
different deep sea scavengers will feast
鲨鱼盲鳗及其他深海食腐动物
on the carcass for years before all its nutriment is gone.
吃上好几年 直到身上的养份都被吃光为止
Eighteen months later
18个月之后
when we returned to this whale
我们再回到这里
all that was left was a perfect skeleton, stripped bare.
所剩的只有一具完美的裸骨
lt was almost as if a museum specimen
好像一具小心置放
had been carefully laid out on the sea floor.
在这里的博物馆标本
At first the skeleton seemed totally abandoned
乍看之下，尸骨好像已被遗弃
but even after so long there was still some flesh left in the head.
但是在这么长时间后 头部还有一些腐肉
Hagfish have a skeleton of cartilage
盲鳗的骨架是由软骨组成
and are so flexible that they can tie
非常地柔软
themselves into knots and so get a better purchase on the flesh they feed on.
甚至可以打结 让它们更方便进食
But smaller organisms had fed here.
也有更小的生物曾来此觅食