蓝色星球（2001）

A thick band of white bacteria had formed
一条宽带状的细菌丛
on the mud outlining the original shape of the whale.
绘出鲸鱼原来的轮廓
And on the skeleton itself
在尸骨上
colonies of specialised bacteria
也有可以
were extracting energy from the bones themselves.
从骨头中汲取能源的特殊菌种
Most remarkably and in huge abundance
最惊人，为数也最多的多毛虫
polychaete worms were collecting the last edible fragments.
来找寻最后的剩余物质
These are a new species that so far have
这是一种新品种
only been found on the fallen bodies of whales.
只有在鲸鱼沉尸处才找得到
Scientists have discovered 1 78 different animals on a single whale vertebra
科学家在一只鲸鱼的脊椎 找到178种动物
most of which have been found nowhere else
大部分只有这里才找得到
This whale, lying over a mile down
这只躺在超过 一英里深海底的鲸鱼
was not filmed from a submersible with an acrylic sphere.
不是用有压克力制观察箱的 潜水艇所拍到的
Such craft can't go as deep as this.
那种潜水艇到不了这个深度
To withstand the pressure here
我们需要更强固的潜水艇
you need a far stronger submersible.
才能受这里的压力
This is Alvin, a two metre wide sphere
这是艾文，装置有一个 2公尺宽的观察室
with just enough room in it for a pilot and two observers.
里面只能容纳一名驾驶 及两位观察员
lts walls are made of titanium, the viewing ports have to be tiny.
它的外墙则是钛金属材质 所有观察窗都做得极小
Any larger, and the submersible would implode...
如果做得再大一些 潜水艇
under the enormous pressure down here.
就会被庞大的压力挤碎
Alvin can dive to 4500 metres, three miles below the surface.
艾文的下潜深度是4500公尺 也就是3英里的水深
Around 3000 metres the Continental slope finally flattens out...
水深三千公尺处 大♥陆♥斜坡到了尽头
and joins the abyssal plain.
接上了大洋盆地
This covers over half the earth's surface.
这个盆地涵盖了 地球一半以上的地表
Mostly it's completely flat
盆地大部分地方是一片平坦
but in places it's gashed by massive trenches
但是有些部分却裂出
hundreds of miles wide.
宽数百英里的巨大海沟
The deepest of these is the Mariana trench
其中最深的是马里亚纳海沟
which drops to over seven miles below sea level.
深度达海平面以下7英里
There are just five manned submersibles
全世界只有5台潜水艇
world-wide that can reach the abyssal plain
可以下潜到大洋盆地
and between them, so far,
到目前为止
they have explored less than one per cent of it.
它们总共也 只探索了不到1%的区域
There are a thousand times fewer large animals
这里的动物比在
down here than on the Continental slope.
大♥陆♥斜坡少了一千倍
But in places hundreds of brittle stars
但是有些地方有数百只阳燧足
march over the sea bed in search of food.
在海床上行进，寻找食物
Fish have been found right down
在最深的海沟底
to the bottom of the deepest trenches.
也曾发现鱼类的行踪
Most come from one family: the aptly named rattails.
大部分是同一科的鼠尾鱼
They forage near the sea floor
它们在靠近海床的区域掠食
and use their battery of sensory pits
再用感应器
to follow odour trails from rotting carcasses.
追寻腐肉的味道
Rattails can travel long distances
鼠尾鱼可以在大洋盆地
across the abyssal plain in search of food
长距离游♥行♥觅食
but others down here prefer to sit and wait.
但是这里也有喜欢 静待食物出现的动物
This is a tripod fish.
这是一只三脚架鱼
lt supports itself on two specially adapted fin
构造特别的鳍刺可以支撑身体
rays and can sit motionless for hour after hour.
让它静♥坐♥不动好几个小时
lt does have tiny eyes, but it's almost totally blind.
它的眼睛极小但接近全盲
lt locates potential prey with a pair of
它利用头部后方的两条鳍 来感觉猎物的位置
fins behind its head, which are sensitive to even tiny movements.
高度敏感的鳍 连最细微的动作也能察觉到
We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the abyssal plain.
我们对月表的了解 都比对大洋盆地的了解还多
Every dive still produces complete surprises.
每一次下潜 都会发现新的惊喜
This deep sea octopus is about the size of a beach ball...
这只深海章鱼 约是一个沙滩排球的大小
and has been nicknamed 'Dumbo'.
它有一个绰号♥叫小飞象
An umbrella of skin between its tentacles
在触手间伞状的皮肤 以及奇妙的大耳朵
and its extraordinary flapping ears allow Dumbo
让小飞象可以不费吹灰之力
to hover effortlessly over the sea floor as it searches for food.
悠游过海床，寻找食物
Right in the middle of the abyssal plain lie the
就在大洋盆地的正中♥央♥
largest geological structures on our planet...
存在着地球上最大的地理构造
... the mid ocean ridges.
那就是中洋脊
Rising almost two miles off the sea floor
从海床以上骤起2英里
the ridges extend for over twenty eight thousand miles
中洋脊绵延超过2万8千英里
the largest mountain chain on earth.
是地球上最大的山脉
When submersibles finally succeeded in reaching the ridges...
当潜水艇在1970年
in the 1 970's they found
终于顺利抵达中洋脊时
an extraordinary world with mile upon mile
他们发现的是一个奇妙的世界
of once molten rock that had welled up from the deep in the past...
许久以前从地心涌起
and had now solidified.
现已凝固的熔岩绵延数里
They discovered towering chimneys, pouring out water as hot as molten lead.
他们还发现高耸的烟囱 喷出如岩浆般炽热的海水
At the surface water becomes steam at a hundred degrees Centigrade
在海平面高度，水在 摄氏100时就会蒸发成水蒸气
but down here under the immense pressure of the ocean
但是在海底巨大的压力之下
it remains liquid at temperatures as hot as four hundred degrees Centigrade.
水即使在400度的高温 还是维持在液体状态
The submersible has to move carefully.
潜水艇必须要小心前进
Disaster is very close when surrounded by such enormous temperatures and pressures.
在超高温高压的包围下 意外随时可能发生
And here, where the very water is loaded with hydrogen sulphides
在这个充满了对一般生物来说
poisonous to normal life processes, they found living creatures.
是剧毒的高浓度硫化氢的地方 还是发现有生物的踪迹
Some of the chimneys were encrusted with white tubes.
有些烟囱布满了白色管子
The tubes were inhabited by a new species of polychaete worm
这些管子里住的是一种 新发现的多毛虫品种
that was exposed to temperatures as high as eighty degrees Centigrade.
它们暴露在高达 摄氏80度的温度下
No other animal on earth was known to tolerate such high temperatures
在地球上没有任何已知的动物 有这么高温的耐受度
so the scientists called these creatures Pompeii worms.
所以科学家叫它们庞贝虫
But this was just the beginning.
但这些只是 一连串新发现的开始而已
Nearby there were chimneys completely covered...
在附近有烟囱完全被
by whole communities of different organisms.
生物群体所覆盖
The bottom of the vent was encrusted with large mussels.
在烟囱口下方布满了大型贻贝
There were swarms of white crabs and most spectacular of all
还有许多白色螃蟹群居 但是最惊人的
dominating the chimney were hundreds of bright red tube worms
还是占去烟囱 主要部位的几百只鲜红色管虫
each two metres long and four centimetres wide.
每只都有两公尺长，四公分宽
Until these creatures were discovered
一直到这些生物被发现之前
all life on earth was thought to be dependent on the sun.
我们一直以为地球上的生物 需要阳光才能生存
But here, in the complete darkness of the deep
但是在这个完全黑暗的深海
they had discovered a rich density of life
他们发现了不需依赖阳光的
that clearly derived no energy from the sun.
丰富的生物群
So, what do they live on?
那它们又靠什么维生呢？
The answer was found within the tube worms themselves.
答案就在管虫身上
They were packed full of specialised bacteria
管子里面充满了专门将
that are able to derive energy from the sulphides that are pouring from the vents.
烟囱喷出的硫 转化成能源的细菌
The worms' plumes were bright red
管虫的身体因为
with haemoglobin that carries sulphides
充满了血红素而呈鲜红色
and oxygen down to the bacteria.
血红素会将硫及氧气 带给下方的细菌
These bacterial colonies are the primary source of energy...
这些菌丛是这里 所有生物的
for all the life that lives here.
主要能量来源
The mussels were packed with them
贻贝里充满了这些菌丛
just as green plants are the basis of life
就像绿色植物是所有
for animals living in the sun
活在阳光下动物的基础一样
so these bacteria and other microbes
这些细菌处在串起500种以上
are at the foot of the food chain on which over five hundred species depend.
动物的食物链的最底层
Crabs and shrimps feed off bacteria and even
螃蟹及虾子都以细菌维生
try to steal pieces of tube worm plumes.
还试着偷袭管虫
Since the vents were first visited by
从1979年生物学家
biologists in 1 979 a new species has been described every ten days.
第一次造访这些烟囱以来 每十天就发现一个新物种
At the top of the food chain fish
在食物链最顶端的鱼类
that never stray far from the vents.
从来不会离开烟囱太远
But they, or their descendants, will have to move eventually
但是它或它们的后代 最后还是得迁移
for we now know that individual vents
据我们所知，单一烟囱
are rarely active for more than a few decades.
大约只有数十年的活动期
Such a density of life, living in such harsh conditions
如此丰饶的生命 如此恶劣的生存条件
in the middle of a vast and otherwise
就存在这广大荒凉的 大洋盆地中♥央♥
barren abyssal plain astounded the biologists who first saw it.
也震惊了第一个 发现这里的生物学家们
lt seemed to them that here was evidence of
对他们来说这里就是
how life on this planet, which certainly started in the sea, might have begun.
地球上的生命 如何从海洋起源的证据
Deep sea submersibles made an even more extraordinary discovery in 1 990.
在1990年深海潜水艇 有了更惊人的发现
Over half a mile down at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico
就在墨西哥湾一英里半的海底 他们发现了一座
they came across what appeared to be an underwater lake
超过20公尺宽
over twenty metres long, with its own sandy shore.
甚至还有沙岸的海底湖
Around its edge, there even seemed to be a tide line.
在湖边的地方 似乎还有潮线的存在
But this couldn't be, of course, this was underwater.
这应该是不可能的 因为这里可是海底