海底兩萬(wàn)里 第492期 第30章 從合恩角到亞馬遜河(14)
Their hunting was not a fascinating sport. The manatees let themselves be struck down without offering any resistance. Several thousand kilos of meat were hauled below, to be dried and stored.
但這樣的打獵并沒有什么意思，因?yàn)檫@些海牛面對(duì)捕捉絲毫不做反抗。 就這樣，幾千公斤的肉被晾得干干的放進(jìn)船內(nèi)庫(kù)存起來(lái)。
The same day an odd fishing practice further increased the Nautilus's stores, so full of game were these seas.Our trawl brought up in its meshes a number of fish whose heads were topped by little oval slabs with fleshy edges. These were suckerfish from the third family of the subbrachian Malacopterygia. These flat disks on theirheads consist of crosswise plates of movable cartilage, between which the animals can create a vacuum, enabling them to stick to objects like suction cups.
這一帶海域的物產(chǎn)豐富，那一天，另一次大規(guī)模的捕魚又使“鸚鵡螺號(hào)”船上的食品儲(chǔ)備大增。船上的魚網(wǎng)撈上來(lái)了很多頭上隆起一塊橢圓形肉邊骨片的魚。那是屬于亞鰓軟骨目第三科的印魚。它們身上的扁平圓盤是由活動(dòng)的橫軟骨組成的，這種魚可以在這些軟骨之間造成真空，使自己能像吸盤一樣吸在物體上。
The remoras I had observed in the Mediterranean were related to this species. But the creature at issue here was an Echeneis osteochara, unique to this sea. Right after catching them, our seamen dropped them in buckets of water.
我在地中海觀察過(guò)的印魚就屬于這一類。但這里的這一類，是這一海區(qū)特有的軟骨魚。我們的水手一捉到這些魚，就把它們放進(jìn)盛滿海水的桶中。
Its fishing finished, the Nautilus drew nearer to the coast. In this locality a number of sea turtles were sleeping on the surface of the waves. It would have been difficult to capture these valuable reptiles, because they wake up at the slightest sound, and their solid carapaces are harpoon-proof. But our suckerfish would effect their capture with extraordinary certainty and precision.
捕魚結(jié)束了后，“鸚鵡螺號(hào)”船只就向海岸靠近。在那個(gè)地方，有不少海龜睡在水波上。但要想捉到這些珍貴的爬行動(dòng)物是很困難的，因?yàn)樯晕⒂袆?dòng)靜，它們就會(huì)醒過(guò)來(lái)，而且它們堅(jiān)硬的甲殼不怕魚叉攻擊。但用印魚就可以特別有保障并準(zhǔn)確地捕捉到海龜。
