時差N小時:魚,魚,魚,音樂魚

Don: Today on "A Moment of Science," herring makesounds when passing gas...

唐：今日科學時刻，鯡魚放屁時會發(fā)出聲音...

Yael: Don, be serious!

雅艾爾：唐，正經點!

Don: I am serious, Yael! The Atlantic herring is oneof the most abundant fish on Earth!The silvery foot-long fish live in huge schools of thousands tohundreds of thousands of individuals.

唐：我很正經啊，雅艾爾!大西洋的鯡魚是世界上數(shù)量最多的魚類之一!這種銀白色的長足魚成群而居，每一群都有成百上千條鯡魚。

Fishermen have long known that herring schools can release large clouds of bubbles that arevisible from the surface. The bubbles are released through the anal opening, connected to thefish's swim bladder.

人們早就知道鯡魚群會吐出巨大的從水面都能看見的氣泡云。這些氣泡來自于魚鰾，通過肛門釋放。

Yael: What's a swim bladder?

雅艾爾：什么是魚鰾?

Don: It's a special, gas-filled organ that helps regulate buoyancy. Herring gulp air at thesurface and store it in their swim bladders. It's also long been known that herring make chirp-like sounds, especially when startled or in danger, but biologists didn't know how these chirpswere produced.

唐：它是一種特殊的充滿氣體的器官，有助于調節(jié)魚體的浮力。鯡魚在水面大口吸氣，把氧氣存在魚鰾里。很早以前人們也知道鯡魚會發(fā)出類似啾啾的聲音，尤其在受到驚嚇或者遇到危險時。但那時生物學家們并不知道這種啾啾聲是如何產生的。

Yael: I think I know where this is heading!

雅艾爾：我大概知道接下來你要說什么了!

Don: Yep! A pair of Danish biologists recorded herring housed in special pressurized tanks thatreplicated conditions at the ocean depths where herring are found. They discovered that thechirping sounds were actually produced by air release from the swim bladder during thebubble production—the first report of sound production by gas release in fishes.

唐：沒錯!兩位丹麥生物學家研究記錄了一群鯡魚，為了仿造了鯡魚出沒的深海環(huán)境，他們把鯡魚養(yǎng)在特殊增壓箱里的。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)啾啾聲實際上是在魚鰾釋放氣體，產生氣泡時發(fā)出的，這是人類第一個有關魚類釋放氣體發(fā)聲的報告。

Yael: So the chirps are just a by-product of passing gas?

雅艾爾：所以說啾啾聲只不過是放屁時的意外收獲?

Don: That is what's intriguing scientists, since the bubbles are released by the fish inresponse to stress, and occur whether the fish are ascending or descending, they don't thinkthat it's simply part of controlling buoyancy.

唐：這正是令科學家們振奮的原因。魚體受到壓力作用，就會釋放氣泡，當浮起或下沉時也會這樣，他們不認為這僅僅是為了控制浮力。

Some scientists speculate that the sound and bubbles might work as a visual and acousticscreen to confuse predators, but more studies are needed to determine if the chirpingbubbles have a behavioral function or not.

一些科學家們推斷，魚類在利用聲音和氣泡形成有視聽效果的屏障，來迷惑捕食者。但是要確定啾啾聲和氣泡是否具有行為功能還需要進一步的研究。