我们的行星有超过60%的陆地 Over sixty per cent of our planet
被深一英里以上的海洋覆盖着 is covered by ocean more than a mile deep.
这些汪洋深海 是地球上最大的生物栖息地 That, the deep sea is by far the largest habitat on earth
我们对它也是所知甚少 and it's largely unknown.
跟我们一起旅行到深深海底 Join us on a journey to the very bottom of the deep sea,
这是一个前所未见的奇异世界 to an alien world never revealed before.
这里也是许多世界上 最怪异动物的家 lt's home to some of the strangest animals on earth.
鱼类在幽暗海底闪着光亮 Fish flash in the darkness ...
几乎每次下潜 都会发现新的物种 ... new species are discovered on almost every dive.
到过太空的人 都比到过这深海底的人多 More people have travelled into space than have ventured this deep.
与我们一起到深海中一探究竟 Come on a journey into the abyss.
抹香鲸浮上来吸一口气 也是接下来超过 A sperm whale takes a breath, its last for over an hour.
一个小时的时间中的最后一口 lt is about to leave the warm,
它正要离开温暖明亮的水面 well-lit surface waters and dive far down into the cold,
下潜到幽暗寒冷的深海里 dark depths of the deep ocean.
它在水面附近所呼吸的空气 气压与我们相同 At the surface it took in air at the same pressure as we breath it.
但是当它为了觅食 But it's going to look for food
来到超过一千公尺的深海时 at more than a thousand metres down,
这里的压力是水面上的数百倍 where pressure is a hundred times
将鲸鱼的肺部挤压到 that on the surface, crushing the whale's lungs
只剩原容量的1% to just one per cent of their volume.
人类若要尾随鲸鱼下沉 For us to follow the whale,
就要靠最先进的潜水艇 we need the very latest submersible.
强化压克力球体 A reinforced acrylic sphere,
球壁厚12公分 with walls 12 centimetres thick,
保护我们的驾驶及摄影师 protects a pilot and our cameraman
不受水底巨大的压力影响 from the enormous pressure below
也让潜水艇可以下潜到 and allows the submarine to dive to
900公尺多的深度 just over nine hundred metres.
每下沉一公尺 压力增强，天光渐渐昏暗 With every passing metre, pressure increases and sunlight diminishes
一千英尺 ''One thousand feet ...
到了水深300公尺处 已经变得非常黑暗 By three hundred metres it's already very dark
水中的温度也迅速下降 and the temperature of the water is dropping fast.
我们进入了微明区 We are entering the twilight zone ...
一个奇异的昏暗世界 许多动物 a weird world of gloom, where many animals
都变得完全透明 have become completely transparent.
在这个微光的世界 动物必须要能看得清楚 ln this twilight, an animal needs to see and
同时不希望被敌人看得太清楚 yet as far as possible must avoid being seen.
一只巨大的排骨虾，长12公分 A giant amphipod, 12 centimetres long
几乎全身完全透明 and almost perfectly transparent.
头部构造几乎就是两只大眼睛 lts head is completely filled by two huge eyes,
正提高警觉查看有无猎物 with which it strains to detect its prey.
巧科动物是另一种 活在微明区的怪物 Another twilight monster, Phronima,
是许多外星人电影的灵感来源 the inspiration for the 'Alien' movies.
她与成长中的后代像寄生虫般 She and her developing pink offspring live
住在偷来的水母身体中 like parasites in the stolen body of a jelly.
这套令人赞叹的双剪 及它的一双大眼睛 This impressive cutlery set and its huge eyes
让巧科动物成了 强而有力的掠食者 make Phronima a powerful predator.
就连较高等复杂的生物 在微明区都变得透明 Even really complex animals have become transparent in the twilight zone.
乌贼是最高等的无脊椎动物 Squids are among the most advanced of invertebrates,
但是这只乌贼可能一辈子 都不会到水面上去 but this one never meets a hard surface in its entire life,
所以身体不需要像其他 在浅水域生活的表亲那么强壮 so its body need not be as robust as that of its shallow water cousins.
在深海里住了各式 其他地方找不到的水母 There's a rich variety of jellies that live nowhere else but in the deep sea.
成千上万只细小的纤毛 让它们在无边无际的大海推进 Thousands of tiny cilia propel them through a world without walls.
隐身在一片昏暗中 lnvisible in the gloom,
它们盲目地探索猎物的所在 they grope blindly for their prey.
梳子水母伸出长长的黏网 捕捉过往的桡脚类动物 Comb jellies let out long sticky nets to catch passing copepods.
最广大的死亡之网 则是由管水母所设下 But the most extensive death trap is set by siphonophores.
这个鼓动的铃 是一群聚生水母的头部 This pulsating bell is the head of a colonial jelly,
最长可达40公尺 that can be forty metres long.
几百万只带刺的细胞 在海中浮沉 Millions of tiny stinging cells, drifting through the sea.
水深五百公尺 Five hundred metres down
在这里就连最清澈的热带海域 and in even the clearest tropical waters only
也只剩下最微弱的光亮 the faintest vestige of the sunlight remains,
光线是如此微弱，我们的肉眼也无法 查觉但是其他生物却可以 so little that our eyes can't detect it ... but others can.
微明区的生存取决于 Survival in the twilight zone
看见与不被看见中间 is all about seeing, yet not being seen.
棘银斧鱼是捉迷藏的专家 Hatchet fish are masters of the game of hide and seek.
它们有对敏锐的大眼睛 They have the large, sensitive eyes
可以侦测猎物的存在 但它们的身体却是扁平的 needed for seeking prey, but their bodies are flat.
两侧的身体闪着银光 And their sides are highly silvered.
正对面时它们是 Head on, they are just visible,
清楚可见的 但就在它转身之后 thin though they are, but as soon as they turn ...
它们的身侧会像镜子一样 ... their mirrored sides reflect the remnants
反射出来自海面的微弱蓝光 就这么消失在微亮中 of blue light from the surface and they disappear into the gloom.
从侧面看 鱼群处在良好的伪装中 Viewed from the side, whole shoals can hide in this way.
但是从下面呢？ But what about from below?
许多猎食者管状的眼睛 The tubular eyes of many of the predators
可以在微弱的光亮中 even in this gloom are able to distinguish their prey,
辨识猎物微弱日光下的剪影 silhouetted against the scarcely detectable glimmer of light from above.
棘银斧鱼有办法骗过任何 Hatchet fish, however, have a way of confusing any eyes
在它们身下搜寻的眼睛 that might be searching for them from below.
它们在腹部有种会发光的细胞 称作发光器官 Their bellies carry rows of light-producing cells called photophores.
它们利用发光器官制造出 They can use these to exactly match
与水面透下的天光相仿的颜色 the changing colour of light from the surface far above.
这项反影装置 破坏了它们的剪影 This counter shading breaks up their silhouette,
从下面看上来 几乎无法发现它们的踪影 making them almost invisible from below...
只是'几乎'而已 ... almost.
但是这对眼睛绝不寻常 But these are no ordinary eyes.
这对巨大的黄色眼镜 The enormous yellow lenses enable
让它们的所有人可以清楚辨认 their owner to distinguish between light
自然的天光及发光器官 produced by photophores and sunlight.
所制造出来的光 So, one device for escape is countered by
在持续千百万年的演化竞赛中 another equally subtle one for attack in
为了逃命而演化出的装置 an evolutionary arms race that has been waged
被另一项猎食装置破解 for millions of years.
下沉到一千公尺的深度后 Descend below a thousand metres and
我们进入了黑暗地带 you enter the dark zone.
没有阳光可以穿透到这里 No sunlight whatsoever penetrates this deep.
海水的温度降到 The temperature of the water has dropped
摄氏四度以下 below four degrees Centigrade.
而压力则是 The pressure is more than
陆地上的一百倍 a hundred times that at the surface.
在这黑暗而危险的世界 Life becomes every more sparse.
生机罕见 lt's a dark, dangerous world.
就其与身体的比例来说 这是海中最大的牙齿 Relative to body size, these are the largest teeth in the ocean,
这些牙齿如此巨大 它的所有人连嘴都合不拢 they are so big that their owner can't even close its mouth.
这位所有人就是尖牙鱼 They belong to the Fang Tooth.
尖牙鱼不同于其他的深海鱼，它拥有 强壮的肌肉是非常具侵略性的猎食者 Unlike most deep sea fish this has powerful muscles and is an aggressive hunter.
食物在这么深的海底实在不足 With food in such short supply at this depth,
黑暗地带的掠食者 不论猎物大小都来者不拒 dark zone predators have to be able to deal with a meal of almost any size.
在这里许多动物都是深红色的 就像这只深海水母一样 Many animals here are dark red, like this deep sea jelly.
在潜水艇的灯光照射下 Caught in the lights of the submersible,
反射出如烟火般绚烂的色彩 it's a spectacular firework display of colour.
通常没有红光可以穿透至此 Normally, no red light penetrates as deep as this,
所以身上有红色素的动物 so animals with red pigment
在这里看起来是全黑的 完全隐身在黑暗中 appear completely black down here, perfectly concealed.
但是这里的掠食者 不全靠视力捕捉猎物 Predators here, however, don't just rely on vision many have tiny eyes.
很多掠食者的眼睛都很小 lnstead, their thin rod-like bodies
但它们棍状纤长的身体布满了 可以侦测水中微小波动的器官 are lined with organs sensitive to tiny movements in the water.
这只身长半公尺的怪物 叫做毛灯笼鱼 This monster, half a metre across, is a Hairy Angler.
这是它第一次出现在世人面前 This is the first time it's been seen.
他的身体上覆盖了 几百个敏锐的触角 lt's covered with hundreds of sensitive antennae,
每个触角都可以侦测到 each capable of detecting the movements
任何粗心大意游过这只 静止不动的猎人身边的猎物 of any prey careless enough to stray too close to this motionless predator.
这一位该算是已知的深海鱼中 But this, surely, must be the strangest
最奇特的一种 of all the deep sea fish yet discovered.
一条长一公尺高度敏感的尾鳍 A highly sensitive metre long tail hangs down
自占去身长1 的头部垂下 from the head that makes up a quarter of its body.
它的眼睛十分细小 但嘴巴却十分巨大 lts eyes are tiny, but its mouth is truly enormous.
它的名字叫宽咽鱼 因为它无论大小什么都吞得下 lt's called the Gulper eel, because it can engulf a meal of almost any size.
在水中静止不动 他的血盆大口 Hanging motionless in midwater, its enormous gape enables it
可以不论大小 吃下任何经过的猎物 to deal with passing prey, whether it's small or large.
宽咽鱼可以吞下 和自己一般大小的猎物 Gulper eels can swallow prey as big as themselves,
在三餐不继的这里 which is very useful in a world
是非常有利的特性 where you never know when the next meal is coming along.
即使在黑暗地带 还是有些许的光亮 Even in the dark zone, there is some light.
关上潜水艇的远光灯 就可看到外面的烟火表演 Turn off the submersible headlights and you see a pyrotechnic display outside.
这些都是生物体制造的光 These lights are created by animals.
叫做生物光 This is bioluminescence.
一只深海灯笼鱼 在黑暗中闪着光亮 A deep sea angler fish flashes in the darkness.
可以吸引猎物 The light is generated by bacteria
投向杀人利齿的光亮 that live permanently inside the lure,
是由永居在灯笼里的细菌制造 which attracts prey to these murderous teeth.
这一片黑暗中有各种的灯笼 There are all sorts of lures out in the darkness.
快到我的嘴里来吧，小鱼 Come into my mouth, little fish!
这个吊在长杆子上 And what is the purpose of this lure,
位于一副可怕利齿下的灯笼 到底功用为何？ suspended on a long rod, way below its owner's terrifying set of teeth?
答案很难推测 lt's difficult to be sure,
但是这只怪物在嘴巴附近 but then this monster does have another giant...
还有一个巨大，闪着光的灯笼 flashing lure much closer to its mouth.
这些鱼被称作钓客 因为它们的灯笼 These fish are called anglers because they use their lures in much the same way as
跟钓客用假饵的方法一样 fly fishermen use their imitation flies.
对有着大眼睛的乌贼来说 For a hunting squid, with huge eyes,
这片微光是非常吸引人的 this glimmer is intriguing.
有可能是猎物 lt might just be food.
对一只胃口极大的鱼来说 这是很丰盛的一餐 A satisfying meal for a fish with a highly extendible stomach.
在深海中吸引伴侣 可能比吸引猎物还难 Attracting a mate in this endless darkness can be even harder than finding food.
在黑暗中闪亮的灯笼 可能会有些帮助 Flashing lures may be helpful in doing this,
只有雌灯笼鱼才有灯笼 certainly only female anglers have them.
身形短小的雄性 只有雌鱼的十分之一大 The tiny males are just a tenth the size of the females.
它们生存的意义似乎只是 在这无边黑暗中寻找伴侣 Their only purpose is somehow to find a mate in the darkness.
雌鱼释出化学物质到水中 She releases chemicals into the water,
雄鱼可以靠着位于眼睛前方 白色的特殊器官嗅到化学物质 which the males scent with a special white organ in front of their eyes.
找到伴侣后 Having found a partner,
雄鱼用特殊的牙 咬上雌鱼的腹部 the male bites at her belly with specially designed teeth.
雄鱼需要与雌鱼固定在一起 He needs to get permanently attached.
几个礼拜后 雄鱼已经和雌鱼完全黏合 Within a matter of weeks the male is completely fused to the female
雄鱼就这样过一辈子 and there he will stay for the rest of his life.
雌鱼的血液流到它体内 Her blood circulating in his body
供给它所有必须营养 provides him with all the sustenance he needs.
雌鱼得到的报酬 则是不间断的精子供给 ln return, she gets a continuous,
这真是在广大黑暗的深海中 reliable supply of sperm - a brilliant solution
解决交配问题的绝妙办法 to the problem of finding a mate in the vast emptiness of the deep sea.
为了要在弱肉强食的深海生存 To help in the constant battle between predators and prey,
有些鱼身上演化出探照灯 some fish in the dark zone have developed headlights.
这些生在眼下的发光器 These light-producing photophores beneath
可用来在黑暗中寻找猎物 their eyes may be used to search out prey in the darkness.
在深海中 大部分的生物光为蓝或蓝绿光 Most bioluminescence in the deep sea is blue or greenish-blue,
但是有些肉食性鱼类 却会制造红光 but a very few predatory fish produce red light.
红光一照 黑暗中的红色猎物无所遁形 With this, red prey becomes obvious in the darkness.
在这里红光少见 Red light is rare down here
所以大部份动物都无法辨识 and most animal eyes can't see it.
只有这些鱼不同 Only these fish can do so.
它们也因此也像有了阻击兵的红外线 望远镜会发出目标物看不见的探照光 This gives them a sniper scope, a headlight invisible to their targets.
这只拟真刺水蚤 未有警觉，走上不归路 This copepod, un-alarmed, takes no avoiding action.
生物光在逃跑时 跟在攻击时一样好用 Bioluminescence is useful in escape as well as attack.
一只虾子察觉到危险 A shrimp senses a threat.
开始旋转，释出生物光液 lt spins in the water, releasing a bioluminescent glue.
就像是警卫系统一样 This acts like a burglar alarm,
吓阻要攻击的鱼 startling the attacking fish and leaving it
还让它在黑暗中发光 illuminated in the dark and
暴露在自己的敌人之前 vulnerable to its own predators.
这些闪闪发光的亮点 是拟真刺水蚤所发出的 These twinkling lights in the darkness are produced by copepods.
可能是用来相互联络 They probably flash like this to communicate with one another
或是迷惑它的天敌 and confuse their predators.
深海中最敏锐的双眼 The most sensitive eyes in the ocean
归一种巨介型的介形动物所有 belong to an ostracod called Gigantocypris.
它的大小和豆子一般 但已是介形动物中的巨人 lt's the size of a pea, but that's enormous for an ostracod.
桡脚类是它们的最爱 Copepods are a favourite prey
会不断寻找桡脚类发出的亮光 and it actively searches for their flashes in the darkness.
但是桡脚类有 对付巨介形的障眼法 But this copepod has a way of confusing a hunting Gigantocypris.
它们会释出生物光液 lt discharges a packet of bioluminescent liquid.
就像深水炸弹一样 闪光的时间会有延迟 The flash is delayed, like a depth charge.
这只困惑的巨介形 在水中乱转 Spinning, confused, in the water,
追逐光影 Gigantocypris chases after the flashes.
而这只桡脚类则从旁 消失在黑暗中 And the copepod slips away unseen into the darkness.
但是最终极的生物光 防御武器 The ultimate bioluminescent defence mechanism
该是深海中的瓜皮帽水母 has to be the light show created
有如烟火般的灯光秀 by the deep sea jellyfish, Periphylla.
这个表演据说是要吓退敌人的 That, presumably, is the way it scares away its enemies.
这些耀眼的灯光 都是蜻蜓乌贼所制造出来的 These bright lights are all produced by firefly squid.
它们通常生活在 300公尺的深海 Normally, they live way down at around three hundred metres,
这些日本渔夫是抓不到它们的 beyond the reach of these Japanese fishermen's nets.
但是在每年春天的几个月里 它们每晚都会到水面上来 But for a few months each Spring they come to the surface every night.
这些灿烂的光是从 The brightest lights come from
它们两只前触手的顶端发出 the bioluminescent tips of their two front tentacles.
但只有在幽暗的深海中 But it's only in the dark of the deep sea
才能真正欣赏它们 华丽繁复的表演 that you can really appreciate the full complexity of their displays.
不只是触手 lt's not just their tentacles,
它们全身都布满了发光器 but their whole bodies that are covered in photophores.
虽然切确的功能不明 The exact function is not clear.
但是发光的触手可能可以用来 吸引异性或是迷惑天敌 The bright tentacle tips may be for attracting mates or dazzling predators.
其他的可能是伪装 The rest may be camouflage
在乌贼上游微明区时制造阴影 providing counter shading for the squid as they journey up into the twilight zone.
产卵季来临时 Every night in the season
千百万只乌贼 每晚上游到浅水域产卵 hundreds of thousands of squid journey up into the shallow water to spawn.
它们会在日出前回到深海 Before dawn, they will return to the depths
把卵留在浅水域成长 leaving their eggs to develop in the shallows.
太阳每日的循环 The daily cycle of the sun has a profound
对深海生物有决定性的影响 influence on life in the deep ocean.
太阳的下沉，触动了地球上 As the sun sets, it triggers the largest
规模最庞大的生物迁徙 migration of living organisms on our planet.
每晚有十亿公吨的动物 One thousand million tonnes of animals
从黑暗区上 travel up from the dark zone into richer,
游到浅水域 shallower water, every night.
小小的草食性动物最早报到 Tiny grazers are first up
找寻只生长在有日照的 浅水域的微小植物 searching for the microscopic plants that only grow in shallow sunlit waters.
肉食动物则紧跟着草食性动物 Predators follow the grazers.
各类动物种类繁多 也加入行进的队伍 An enormous variety of different animals join the convoy
或是在它们经过时饱餐一顿 or feed off it as it passes.
许多动物会上游几百公尺 Many will travel up hundreds of metres
到水面附近 towards the surface and then at dawn
然后在日出时为了要躲避 暴露在天敌面前的危险 finding themselves at greater risk from predators
访客们又回到安全的幽暗深海 the visitors return to the safer darkness of the depths.
阳光只对上面一百公尺的海水 The sun's rays only have a direct effect in the top hundred metres,
有直接的影响 or so, of the ocean.
光合作用只有在这里可以进行 珊瑚礁也只能在这里形成 lt's only here that photosynthesis can take place and coral reefs can flourish.
离开这薄薄一层 丰富的生命之源 Leave this thin, rich slice of life and
越过了珊瑚礁的边缘 travel over the outer face of the reef and
你马上就进入了另一个 求生不易的世界 you quickly enter a far more demanding world.
在150公尺以下的海洋 就无法行光合作用 Below a hundred and fifty metres photosynthesis becomes impossible.
这里没有植物，只有动物 You find no plants, just animals.
这里的动物惯以海洋雪为食 海洋雪就是从海面附近下沉的 Here, the animals are adapted to catch marine snow,
动植物残骸 所以它们所依靠的是 particles of dead animals and plants that drift down from above.
水面附近生物捕捉到的 So they depend, second-hand,
太阳能源 on the energy captured from the sun
所转化的二手能源 by organisms living in the surface waters.
紧靠海床前进 Travelling close to the sea floor
我们要到深海海底旅行 we're going to take a journey to the very bottom of the deep sea...
到一个与其他水域 ... to a world completely separate from the midwater above.
完全分离的世界 At around three hundred metres,
水深300公尺的地方坡度渐缓 the drop off levels out and
我们进入了大陆斜坡 we move out onto the Continental slope.
斜坡从海岸起绵延约 This stretches for about a hundred and
150英里 坡度极缓 fifty miles from the coast, sloping in the gentle gradient
深入深海四千公尺 down to a maximum depth of four thousand metres.
水温在此降到摄氏四度以下 Water temperatures down here drop below 4 degrees centigrade and
压力可达水面的400倍 the pressure can reach up to 400 times that of the surface.
关掉潜水艇的光 就是伸手不见五指的漆黑 Without the lights of the submersible it would be completely dark.
因为有机物的缺乏 The water is crystal clear because
海水是晶澈透明 there's so little organic matter.
只有大约3%来自水面的食物 Only three per cent of the potential food in the
可以下沉到大陆斜坡 surface waters reaches the Continental slope.
这里给人的第一印象 像是荒凉的沙漠 At first sight it appears a lifeless desert
但是仔细瞧瞧 就会发现像网络般的足迹印记 but take a closer look and you notice a network of tracks and trails.
这里也是有生物活动的 There is life even down here.
这些生物是不能捉到上岸的 These animals would die immediately if brought
它们一离开这里就会死亡 所以我们只能从潜水艇中 to the surface in nets, so you can only see them
望见它们平常的生活形态 behaving normally from submersibles.
许多都是科学上的新发现 Many are new to science.
深海海床多被棘皮动物 The deep sea floor is dominated by echinoderms
海参，阳燧足还有海胆占据 sea cucumbers, brittle stars and sea urchins.
一共好几百万只 There are literally millions of them
在海床上行进 marching across the seabed, hoovering up any
找寻还可以吃的剩余物质 edible particles there might be in the sediment.
这些动物有各种 千奇百怪的形状大小 They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes
虽然它们看似松散地 分布在海床上 and though they are very thinly spread
但是深海的海床实在太广大 the deep ocean floor is so vast that
它们的总数量还是世界之最 these are among the most numerous animals on the planet.
它们身上的刺 适合用来移动及防御 Their spikes are good for locomotion and defence
但是在交配时则显得碍事 but perhaps not quite so good when it comes to mating.
在这片广大荒凉的海床上 寻找伴侣是一件麻烦事 Finding a mate in this largely empty sea floor could be a problem
所以有些海胆都群居在一起 so some urchins stay together in herds
才不会离可以交配的同类太远 to be sure that they're never too far from a potential partner.
崎岖的露头刚好让一些 等待食物 Rocky outcrops provide good anchorage for animals that rely on food
飘过的动物攀住固定 that might drift past.
这些是海百合 These crinoids, or sea lilies
长得像植物，但其实是动物 look like plants, but are in fact animals.
长长的茎让伞状的进食触手 Their long stalks ensure that their umbrella
可以在海流找到 of feeding tentacles are positioned
最有利的位置 to best effect in the current.
微小物质被扫到这些触手上 Particles are swept onto the arms
带到伞状构造中央的口部 and carried down to a mouth in the middle of the umbrella.
这些突然的动作可将一些 These sudden movements swat away tiny amphipods
想来抢食的排骨虾驱离 that try to steal the sea lily's captures.
珊瑚礁应该是不可能 在一片黑暗中存在 Coral reefs are not supposed to exist in total darkness
但最近有人在两千公尺深海 发现一种新品种的珊瑚 but recently a new kind of coral was found as deep as two thousand metres.
在冰冷的挪威海湾 ln the cold waters of a Norwegian Fjord
有种高30公尺长 there was a deep sea reef thirty metres high
200公尺的珊瑚 and two hundred metres long.
这种珊瑚的能量不是来自阳光 This coral gets no energy from the sun
所以必须很有效地捕捉猎物 so it has to be very efficient in catching food.
所以它的水螅体比 浅水域的珊瑚要长得多 lts polyps are far larger than those of shallow water corals.
这是世界上最长的水螅体 These are, in fact, the largest coral polyps in the ocean.
属于深海蕈珊瑚的水螅体 They belong to the deep sea mushroom coral
它的触手有三公分长 Their three centimetre long tentacles
可以抓到比较大的猎物 can catch far larger prey than other corals can.
这种需要在沙漠般荒凉的深海 This necessity to capture every particle of food
捕捉任何可食物质的习性 that comes within reach in this near desert
改变了许多动物 has radically changed many animals.
大部分的海鞘是过滤性摄食者 Most Tunicates are filter feeders
但这只特别的海鞘 却是猎食者 but this one, uniquely, has become a predator
超大型的虹吸管 成了一个捕食陷阱 and it's greatly enlarged siphon has been converted into a trap.
大部分的海蔘 都是固定在海床上的 Most sea cucumbers stay firmly on the bottom
但是奇妙的深海品种则不然 but not this extraordinary deep sea species.
它拥有裙状的表皮 lts skirts of skin allow it to swim
可以在海床上方巡游数百公尺 hundreds of metres above the sea floor.
慢慢地它会开始下沉 Eventually it will descend and
如果运气好 就会掉在一个有食物的地方 with luck, will land on fresh feeding grounds.
但是这个 This, though, has to be the most
绝对是动物构造之最 extraordinary animal design of all.
它是多毛虫 lt's a polychaete worm and normally
通常它长而带律动的身体 是固定在的海底的 you would expect the long pulsating body to be stuck firmly in the sediment.
但是这只多毛虫 This worm, alone in its group
却可以在海里游动 swims in the open water.
借着黄色的绉折推进 Propelling itself with its yellow frill
他可以漫游海中寻找食物 it moves about and so finds new sources of food
或是逃离猎食者的追赶 or maybe succeeds in escaping from a predator.
这是鲨鱼的近亲银鲛 This is Chimaera, a close relative of the sharks
身长不到一公尺 less than a metre long.
在下颚部为的感应器 Sensory pits on its chin help it hunt
有助于它的深海猎食 prey on the bottom, while its surprisingly
而它特大的眼睛 则可以看见生物光 large eyes may help it spot bioluminescence.
在这里大型鱼很稀少 Large fish are rare down here
因为食物不够养不活它们 there's simply not enough live prey to sustain them.
大部分的动物都是食腐动物 Most have become scavengers.
鲔鱼的尸体引来了一只深海鳗 A dead tuna has attracted a deep sea conger eel...
还有一只灰六鳃鲨 ... and a six gilled shark.
这种鱼类可以长到8公尺长 These monsters grow to eight metres long.
灰六鳃鲨是活化石 Six gills are living fossils.
1亿5千万年来 For a hundred and fifty million years
都不曾演化改变过 they have existed unchanged
它们活动范围 可达2500公尺深海 living in water as deep as two thousand five hundred metres.
很少有人可以幸运地 Very few people have ever been lucky enough
在潜水艇中看见它们 to glimpse these sharks from submersibles
我们对它们的习性 几乎一无所知 and we know almost nothing about their behaviour.
鲔鱼尸体是一顿大餐 The body of a tuna is a substantial meal
但是偶而也有更巨大 but just occasionally a really gigantic
的尸体会沉到深海底 corpse drifts down to the deep sea floor.
这是才沉到一英里海底的尸体 一只30公吨重的灰鲸 This is the freshly dead carcass of a thirty ton Grey whale.
才刚沉到 lt's resting on the sea floor a mile down.
海底6星期 lt's only been on the bottom for six weeks
但已吸引了无数盲鳗前来 but already it has attracted hundreds of hagfish.
这些远古的食腐动物 几乎都是第一个抵达现场的 These ancient scavengers are nearly always the first to discover a fallen body
它们都是从好几英里以外而来 and are attracted from miles around.
这些盲鳗没有颚部 They lack jaws and rasp at the flesh
用两排尖刺般的牙齿 with two rows of horny teeth on either side of
将腐肉挫下 their sucker-like mouths.
下一个来到的是一只眠鲨 Next to arrive, a sleeper shark
一只真正的深海猎食专家 a real deep sea specialist.
可以长到超过7公尺长 They grow to over seven metres long
从来没有在如此深的海中 拍到过它们的身影 and have never been filmed at such a depth before.
灰鲸侧腹部巨大的伤口 就是它的杰作 The gaping wounds in the whale's flank are its work.
不像盲鳗，它有强有力的颚部 Unlike the hagfish, it has powerful jaws
可以撕下大块的肉 so is able to rip off huge chunks of meat.
这具灰鲸尸体可以让 Sharks, hagfish and a whole succession of
鲨鱼盲鳗及其他深海食腐动物 different deep sea scavengers will feast
吃上好几年 直到身上的养份都被吃光为止 on the carcass for years before all its nutriment is gone.
18个月之后 Eighteen months later
我们再回到这里 when we returned to this whale
所剩的只有一具完美的裸骨 all that was left was a perfect skeleton, stripped bare.
好像一具小心置放 lt was almost as if a museum specimen
在这里的博物馆标本 had been carefully laid out on the sea floor.
乍看之下，尸骨好像已被遗弃 At first the skeleton seemed totally abandoned
但是在这么长时间后 头部还有一些腐肉 but even after so long there was still some flesh left in the head.
盲鳗的骨架是由软骨组成 Hagfish have a skeleton of cartilage
非常地柔软 and are so flexible that they can tie
甚至可以打结 让它们更方便进食 themselves into knots and so get a better purchase on the flesh they feed on.
也有更小的生物曾来此觅食 But smaller organisms had fed here.
一条宽带状的细菌丛 A thick band of white bacteria had formed
绘出鲸鱼原来的轮廓 on the mud outlining the original shape of the whale.
在尸骨上 And on the skeleton itself
也有可以 colonies of specialised bacteria
从骨头中汲取能源的特殊菌种 were extracting energy from the bones themselves.
最惊人，为数也最多的多毛虫 Most remarkably and in huge abundance
来找寻最后的剩余物质 polychaete worms were collecting the last edible fragments.
这是一种新品种 These are a new species that so far have
只有在鲸鱼沉尸处才找得到 only been found on the fallen bodies of whales.
科学家在一只鲸鱼的脊椎 找到178种动物 Scientists have discovered 1 78 different animals on a single whale vertebra
大部分只有这里才找得到 most of which have been found nowhere else
这只躺在超过 一英里深海底的鲸鱼 This whale, lying over a mile down
不是用有压克力制观察箱的 潜水艇所拍到的 was not filmed from a submersible with an acrylic sphere.
那种潜水艇到不了这个深度 Such craft can't go as deep as this.
我们需要更强固的潜水艇 To withstand the pressure here
才能受这里的压力 you need a far stronger submersible.
这是艾文，装置有一个 2公尺宽的观察室 This is Alvin, a two metre wide sphere
里面只能容纳一名驾驶 及两位观察员 with just enough room in it for a pilot and two observers.
它的外墙则是钛金属材质 所有观察窗都做得极小 lts walls are made of titanium, the viewing ports have to be tiny.
如果做得再大一些 潜水艇 Any larger, and the submersible would implode...
就会被庞大的压力挤碎 under the enormous pressure down here.
艾文的下潜深度是4500公尺 也就是3英里的水深 Alvin can dive to 4500 metres, three miles below the surface.
水深三千公尺处 大陆斜坡到了尽头 Around 3000 metres the Continental slope finally flattens out...
接上了大洋盆地 and joins the abyssal plain.
这个盆地涵盖了 地球一半以上的地表 This covers over half the earth's surface.
盆地大部分地方是一片平坦 Mostly it's completely flat
但是有些部分却裂出 but in places it's gashed by massive trenches
宽数百英里的巨大海沟 hundreds of miles wide.
其中最深的是马里亚纳海沟 The deepest of these is the Mariana trench
深度达海平面以下7英里 which drops to over seven miles below sea level.
全世界只有5台潜水艇 There are just five manned submersibles
可以下潜到大洋盆地 world-wide that can reach the abyssal plain
到目前为止 and between them, so far,
它们总共也 只探索了不到1%的区域 they have explored less than one per cent of it.
这里的动物比在 There are a thousand times fewer large animals
大陆斜坡少了一千倍 down here than on the Continental slope.
但是有些地方有数百只阳燧足 But in places hundreds of brittle stars
在海床上行进，寻找食物 march over the sea bed in search of food.
在最深的海沟底 Fish have been found right down
也曾发现鱼类的行踪 to the bottom of the deepest trenches.
大部分是同一科的鼠尾鱼 Most come from one family: the aptly named rattails.
它们在靠近海床的区域掠食 They forage near the sea floor
再用感应器 and use their battery of sensory pits
追寻腐肉的味道 to follow odour trails from rotting carcasses.
鼠尾鱼可以在大洋盆地 Rattails can travel long distances
长距离游行觅食 across the abyssal plain in search of food
但是这里也有喜欢 静待食物出现的动物 but others down here prefer to sit and wait.
这是一只三脚架鱼 This is a tripod fish.
构造特别的鳍刺可以支撑身体 lt supports itself on two specially adapted fin
让它静坐不动好几个小时 rays and can sit motionless for hour after hour.
它的眼睛极小但接近全盲 lt does have tiny eyes, but it's almost totally blind.
它利用头部后方的两条鳍 来感觉猎物的位置 lt locates potential prey with a pair of
高度敏感的鳍 连最细微的动作也能察觉到 fins behind its head, which are sensitive to even tiny movements.
我们对月表的了解 都比对大洋盆地的了解还多 We know more about the surface of the moon than we do about the abyssal plain.
每一次下潜 都会发现新的惊喜 Every dive still produces complete surprises.
这只深海章鱼 约是一个沙滩排球的大小 This deep sea octopus is about the size of a beach ball...
它有一个绰号叫小飞象 and has been nicknamed 'Dumbo'.
在触手间伞状的皮肤 以及奇妙的大耳朵 An umbrella of skin between its tentacles
让小飞象可以不费吹灰之力 and its extraordinary flapping ears allow Dumbo
悠游过海床，寻找食物 to hover effortlessly over the sea floor as it searches for food.
就在大洋盆地的正中央 Right in the middle of the abyssal plain lie the
存在着地球上最大的地理构造 largest geological structures on our planet...
那就是中洋脊 ... the mid ocean ridges.
从海床以上骤起2英里 Rising almost two miles off the sea floor
中洋脊绵延超过2万8千英里 the ridges extend for over twenty eight thousand miles
是地球上最大的山脉 the largest mountain chain on earth.
当潜水艇在1970年 When submersibles finally succeeded in reaching the ridges...
终于顺利抵达中洋脊时 in the 1 970's they found
他们发现的是一个奇妙的世界 an extraordinary world with mile upon mile
许久以前从地心涌起 of once molten rock that had welled up from the deep in the past...
现已凝固的熔岩绵延数里 and had now solidified.
他们还发现高耸的烟囱 喷出如岩浆般炽热的海水 They discovered towering chimneys, pouring out water as hot as molten lead.
在海平面高度，水在 摄氏100时就会蒸发成水蒸气 At the surface water becomes steam at a hundred degrees Centigrade
但是在海底巨大的压力之下 but down here under the immense pressure of the ocean
水即使在400度的高温 还是维持在液体状态 it remains liquid at temperatures as hot as four hundred degrees Centigrade.
潜水艇必须要小心前进 The submersible has to move carefully.
在超高温高压的包围下 意外随时可能发生 Disaster is very close when surrounded by such enormous temperatures and pressures.
在这个充满了对一般生物来说 And here, where the very water is loaded with hydrogen sulphides
是剧毒的高浓度硫化氢的地方 还是发现有生物的踪迹 poisonous to normal life processes, they found living creatures.
有些烟囱布满了白色管子 Some of the chimneys were encrusted with white tubes.
这些管子里住的是一种 新发现的多毛虫品种 The tubes were inhabited by a new species of polychaete worm
它们暴露在高达 摄氏80度的温度下 that was exposed to temperatures as high as eighty degrees Centigrade.
在地球上没有任何已知的动物 有这么高温的耐受度 No other animal on earth was known to tolerate such high temperatures
所以科学家叫它们庞贝虫 so the scientists called these creatures Pompeii worms.
但这些只是 一连串新发现的开始而已 But this was just the beginning.
在附近有烟囱完全被 Nearby there were chimneys completely covered...
生物群体所覆盖 by whole communities of different organisms.
在烟囱口下方布满了大型贻贝 The bottom of the vent was encrusted with large mussels.
还有许多白色螃蟹群居 但是最惊人的 There were swarms of white crabs and most spectacular of all
还是占去烟囱 主要部位的几百只鲜红色管虫 dominating the chimney were hundreds of bright red tube worms
每只都有两公尺长，四公分宽 each two metres long and four centimetres wide.
一直到这些生物被发现之前 Until these creatures were discovered
我们一直以为地球上的生物 需要阳光才能生存 all life on earth was thought to be dependent on the sun.
但是在这个完全黑暗的深海 But here, in the complete darkness of the deep
他们发现了不需依赖阳光的 they had discovered a rich density of life
丰富的生物群 that clearly derived no energy from the sun.
那它们又靠什么维生呢？ So, what do they live on?
答案就在管虫身上 The answer was found within the tube worms themselves.
管子里面充满了专门将 They were packed full of specialised bacteria
烟囱喷出的硫 转化成能源的细菌 that are able to derive energy from the sulphides that are pouring from the vents.
管虫的身体因为 The worms' plumes were bright red
充满了血红素而呈鲜红色 with haemoglobin that carries sulphides
血红素会将硫及氧气 带给下方的细菌 and oxygen down to the bacteria.
这些菌丛是这里 所有生物的 These bacterial colonies are the primary source of energy...
主要能量来源 for all the life that lives here.
贻贝里充满了这些菌丛 The mussels were packed with them
就像绿色植物是所有 just as green plants are the basis of life
活在阳光下动物的基础一样 for animals living in the sun
这些细菌处在串起500种以上 so these bacteria and other microbes
动物的食物链的最底层 are at the foot of the food chain on which over five hundred species depend.
螃蟹及虾子都以细菌维生 Crabs and shrimps feed off bacteria and even
还试着偷袭管虫 try to steal pieces of tube worm plumes.
从1979年生物学家 Since the vents were first visited by
第一次造访这些烟囱以来 每十天就发现一个新物种 biologists in 1 979 a new species has been described every ten days.
在食物链最顶端的鱼类 At the top of the food chain fish
从来不会离开烟囱太远 that never stray far from the vents.
但是它或它们的后代 最后还是得迁移 But they, or their descendants, will have to move eventually
据我们所知，单一烟囱 for we now know that individual vents
大约只有数十年的活动期 are rarely active for more than a few decades.
如此丰饶的生命 如此恶劣的生存条件 Such a density of life, living in such harsh conditions
就存在这广大荒凉的 大洋盆地中央 in the middle of a vast and otherwise
也震惊了第一个 发现这里的生物学家们 barren abyssal plain astounded the biologists who first saw it.
对他们来说这里就是 lt seemed to them that here was evidence of
地球上的生命 如何从海洋起源的证据 how life on this planet, which certainly started in the sea, might have begun.
在1990年深海潜水艇 有了更惊人的发现 Deep sea submersibles made an even more extraordinary discovery in 1 990.
就在墨西哥湾一英里半的海底 他们发现了一座 Over half a mile down at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico
超过20公尺宽 they came across what appeared to be an underwater lake
甚至还有沙岸的海底湖 over twenty metres long, with its own sandy shore.
在湖边的地方 似乎还有潮线的存在 Around its edge, there even seemed to be a tide line.
这应该是不可能的 因为这里可是海底 But this couldn't be, of course, this was underwater.
这个湖其实是由一层 厚厚的盐水所形成 ln fact, the lapping edge was created by a thick soup of salty brine
比重比周围的海水重许多 far heavier than the surrounding seawater
岸边的沙则是无数的贻贝 and the sand was made up of hundreds of thousands of mussels.
这里也是，在一片荒凉的海底 Once again, in the midst of a totally barren seabed
一座孕育丰富生命的神奇绿洲 an extraordinarily rich oasis of life
完全不依赖太阳能 totally independent of the sun's energy.
这里的能量来源不是硫 The source of energy this time was not sulphides
而是从海床上升起的甲烷 but methane bubbling out of the sea bed.
这里的贻贝也带有特殊的菌种 And once again, the mussels carried
可以转化甲烷制造能源 special bacteria capable of fixing the methane's energy.
与海底烟囱一样 Just like the hot vents
这也是个建筑在细菌之上的 完整生态系统 a complete ecosystem had developed, based on the bacteria.
这里有许多新物种 There was an enormous variety of completely new species,
虾子，奇怪的短龙虾 还有鲜红色的多毛虫 shrimps, weird squat lobsters and bright red polychaete worms.
人称这些绿洲叫冷水坑 These oases were called cold seeps
与海底烟囱有惊人的相似之处 and were surprisingly similar to the hot vents.
会在海床造成 The geological processes in the sea floor
甲烷的地质变化 that produce methane also tend to result
也会造成硫化氢的释放 in the release of hydrogen sulphides.
所以科学家在盐水湖附近 lt was hardly surprising then
会发现管虫实在不足为奇 when not far from the brine pool they found tube worms ...
管虫聚集成广大一片 ... extensive fields of tube worms
绵延数百公尺 that stretch for hundreds of metres.
这个新品种身上也有细菌 This new species also uses bacteria
会利用硫来转化出能源 to fix energy from sulphides
但它们会直接从地面撷取硫 but it extracts them directly from the ground.
它们美丽的鳃 只有供给细菌氧气的功用 Their beautiful gills are only used to supply oxygen to the bacteria.
但惊人的是 这些管虫已经超过两百岁了 Amazingly, these tube worms are over two hundred years old.
有人认为海底烟囱的管虫是 While hot vent tube worms are thought to be
海洋中长的最快的无脊椎动物 the fastest growing invertebrates in the sea
而这些管虫却长得奇慢 these appear to be far slower.
所以更应该保护自己的鳃 不受排骨虾的侵扰 All the more reason to protect your gills from biting amphipods.
海底烟囱可能突然熄灭 赖以维生的生物可能顿失所依 The energy sources exploited by the hot vent animals may suddenly fail
在这里生物的远景则较有保障 but here life can enjoy a more stable geological future.
能在10年间发现两个完全 To discover within ten years
不依赖阳光的新生态系统 two completely new ecosystems, both totally independent of the sun's energy
实在是不可思议 has been quite extraordinary.
直到现在为止我们只探索过 深海床不到1%的部分 So far, we have explored just one per cent of the deep ocean floor.
谁又知道还有什么不为人知的 事物在等待我们去发掘呢？ Who knows what is still out there to be discovered?