《中英對照讀新聞》Glowing Sea Creatures Bloom In Droves Along US West Coast－發亮的海洋生物沿著美國西岸暴增

美國國家海洋暨大氣總署研究船今年五月在奧勒岡州外的太平洋海域發現的火體蟲。（路透檔案照）

◎魏國金

Sea temperatures finally cooled this year after three years of unprecedented warm waters along the West Coast. The effect of such cooling led to the presence of krill, which returned along the coast and started providing rich meals for salmon. Even sea lions and other marine mammals seem to look healthier, and things seem to be back to normal.

美國西岸在連續3年海水空前溫暖後，今年的海水溫度終於冷了下來。這類冷卻效應致使磷蝦出現，磷蝦返回西岸，開始提供鮭魚豐富的食物。甚至海獅與其他海洋哺乳生物也看似較健康，情況似乎回到正常。

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But such normalcy did not last long. This past spring, millions of jellyfish-like bioluminescent sea creatures up to 2 feet long started showing up. They have invaded nets, been stuck in fishing hooks and even cascaded onto the beaches along the West Coast. National Geographic reported that the gelatinous animals are called pyrosomes. They started swarming the eastern Pacific in masses that has never been recorded before.

但此類正常並未維持很久。已過去的今年春季，數百萬計、長可達2英尺、類似水母的發亮海洋生物開始現蹤。牠們侵入漁網、緊黏魚鉤，甚至滿佈西海岸沙灘。「國家地理雜誌」報導，這種凝膠狀的生物稱為火體蟲。牠們開始成群大量地在東太平洋移動，這種情況此前未曾有過紀錄。

Richard Brodeur, a biologist from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that he never saw these pyrosomes in such sheer numbers. Although these pyrosomes look like individual bodies, they are actually made up of individual clones. They are physically linked, and a single visible pyrosome could contain hundreds, even thousands, of individual animals.

「美國國家海洋暨大氣總署」的生物學家布羅德說，他不曾見過數量如此龐大的火體蟲。雖然這些火體蟲看來像是單獨個體，實際上卻是由一隻隻複製體所組成。牠們身體連結，單一可見的火蟲體可能包含數百、甚至數千隻個別動物。

《新聞辭典》

in droves：大量湧現。例句：People came in droves to see the celebrties.（人們大批湧現，爭相搶看名人。）

cascade：像瀑布落下、層疊。例句：The money she had earned cascaded away.（她賺的錢大舉流失。）

sheer number：大量。例句：The sheer number of questions overwhelmed me.（大量問題讓我招架不住。）

美國國家海洋暨大氣總署研究船今年五月在奧勒岡州外的太平洋海域發現的火體蟲。（路透檔案照）

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