會走路和呼吸的食肉魚類正在美國取得進展

會走路和呼吸的食肉魚類正在美國取得進展

It doesn't get much creepier than the toothy northern snakehead, a carnivorous fish that grows to at least three feet in length, can breathe air and can survive for several days out of water. It can survive for even longer periods in mud and moist environments. Oh, and it travels over land by wriggling its body along the ground.

最讓人毛骨悚然的莫過于北部多齒的黑魚，這種食肉魚可以長到至少3英尺長，可以呼吸空氣，可以離開水存活幾天。它可以在泥土和潮濕的環(huán)境中存活更長時間。哦，它在陸地上爬行，身體在地面上蠕動。

A snakehead, or Channa argus, seen in 2009. (Photo: Brian Gratwicke [CC BY 2.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

The fish made exclamatory headlines when it made an appearance in New York City’s Central Park, but the more scream-inducing news is that it keeps on showing up in places it shouldn't be. Snakeheads have been found in at last 14 states.

當(dāng)這條魚出現(xiàn)在紐約中央公園時，引起了轟動，但更令人尖叫的消息是，它一直出現(xiàn)在不該出現(xiàn)的地方。至少有14個州發(fā)現(xiàn)了它。

Most recently, it has been seen in a pond in Gwinnett County, Georgia — where wildlife officials recommend that snakeheads be killed immediately — and in the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh.

最近，在喬治亞州Gwinnett縣的一個池塘里發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種蛇頭似的魚——野生動物官員建議立即殺死蛇頭——以及匹茲堡的Monongahela河。

The fish that's making wildlife agencies skittish is an invasive species native to China, Malaysia and Indonesia. Snakeheads are top predators and feed ravenously on other fish as well as frogs, crayfish and aquatic insects. (Your puppies and children are safe. Probably.)

令野生動物機構(gòu)感到不安的魚類是一種入侵物種，原產(chǎn)于中國、馬來西亞和印度尼西亞。蛇頭魚是頂級捕食者，以其他魚類、青蛙、小龍蝦和水生昆蟲為食。(你的小狗和孩子都很安全。可能)。

To make things worse, it's a fish with no natural predators in the U.S., it can spawn multiple times every year, and females release tens of thousands of eggs with each batch.

更糟糕的是，這種魚在美國沒有天敵，它每年可以產(chǎn)卵很多次，每一次雌性都會產(chǎn)下成千上萬的卵。

So, basically, they're huge, walking carnivorous fish that can live outside of water, have no predators, and possess a remarkable reproductive rate. Incredibly cool in an evolutionary sense, but at the same time: Houston, we have a problem.

所以，基本上來說，它們是大型的，能行走的肉食性魚類，可以生活在水外，沒有捕食者，并且有顯著的繁殖率。從進化的角度來看，這簡直太酷了，但與此同時:休斯頓，我們有麻煩了。

After reports first surfaced of one of the freaky fish being spotted in 2013 in Harlem Meer, a lake in the northeast corner of Central Park, environmental officials conducted surveys of the water. That particular batch of snakeheads is no longer thought to be alive, but there are others in the area seen much more recently.

2013年，在中央公園東北角的哈萊姆米爾湖(Harlem Meer)，人們第一次發(fā)現(xiàn)了這種奇怪的魚。之后，環(huán)保官員對湖水進行了調(diào)查。這批特定的蛇頭不再被認(rèn)為是活著的，但最近在該地區(qū)還發(fā)現(xiàn)了其他蛇頭魚。