中英對照讀新聞》Ancient Corals: First Glow-in-the-Dark Animals? 古代珊瑚：首批發光動物？

遠程操作車在海洋中拍攝到的毛竹珊瑚Isidella tentaculum生物發光現象。（美聯社）

◎陳成良

Many animals can glow in the dark. Fireflies famously blink on summer evenings. But most animals that light up are found in the depths of the ocean.

許多動物可以在黑暗中發光。眾所周知，螢火蟲在夏日的夜晚眨眼。但大多數發光的動物都是在海洋深處發現的。

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In a new study, scientists report that deep-sea corals that lived 540 million years ago may have been the first animals to glow, far earlier than previously thought.

在一項新的研究中，科學家報告說，生活在5.4億年前的深海珊瑚可能是第一批發光的動物，比以前認為的要早得多。

The researchers used genetic data from 185 species of luminous coral to construct a detailed evolutionary tree. They found that the common ancestor of all soft corals today lived 540 million years ago and very likely could glow — or bioluminescence.

研究人員使用來自185種發光珊瑚的遺傳數據，來構建詳細的進化樹。他們發現，今天所有軟珊瑚的共同祖先生活在5.4億年前，並且很可能會發光—或生物發光。

That date is around 270 million years before the previously earliest known example: a glowing prehistoric shrimp. It also places the origin of light production to around the time of the Cambrian explosion, when life on Earth evolved and diversified rapidly — giving rise to many major animal groups that exist today.

那個日期約比先前已知的最早例子：一種發光的史前蝦，早了2.7億年。它也將光產生的起源，歸結為在寒武紀大爆發前後，當時地球上的生命進化和多樣化迅速，從而產生今天存在的許多主要動物類群。

新聞辭典

blink：動詞，眨眼睛；閃爍。例句：The light blinked through darkness. （ 燈光在黑暗中閃爍不停。）

luminous：形容詞，發亮的。例句：He gazed at me with luminous eyes.（他眼睛閃閃發光地盯著我。）

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