At 1000 meters you’re moving into a world of both shadows and wet substance,

你們潛入到1000公尺的海水中，一個既陰暗又潮濕的世界

of things and stranger things, you've just crossed into… the bathypelagic zone.

充滿了奇形怪狀的生物。你們也就是進入到深海層

Hello there landlubbers, Julian here for DNews. Until July 10, 2016,

哈囉！你們這些陸地仔。我是DNews的Julian。直到2016的7月10號

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship Okeanos

國家海洋暨大氣總署（NOAA）的歐奇亞諾斯探索號

will be over the deepest part of the Pacific ocean, the Marianas Trench, working 24 hours a day studying the ocean floor.

到達了馬里亞納海溝，位於太平洋的深海，經歷了整整24小時的海底研究

And luckily for you, you can watch the live stream and have the chance to see creatures no person has ever seen before.

你們很幸運的，可以看到現場轉播，並且看到新的海底生物

They’ll be exploring areas of the ocean past the point where a little light gets through,

在他們探索幾個海底區域時，會先經過較為亮的海底區域

called the mesopelagic or “twilight” zone, into a sea of constant darkness called the bathypelagic or “midnight” zone.

就所謂的中深海層或是「灰色」地帶（這帶沒植物，一些喜愛冰冷黑暗的生物居住著，像是龍蝦）。然後，進入到深海層，永恆的「黑暗」處（沒什麼光，一些能自身發光的生物生活在此處）

Most of the volume of the world’s oceans is in the bathypelagic zone.

世界大部分的海洋深度都有到深海層

Even deeper than that, from 4 km to 6 km down is the abyssopelagic zone, aka “The Abyss.”

甚至有超過深海層的深度，深度從4公里到6公里就是所謂的超深層區（永恆黑暗，接近冰點的溫度），也簡稱為「The Abyss」

The Okeanos diving robots bottom out at 6 km in depth, where most of the seafloor is,

歐奇亞諾斯探索號到達深度6公里，有著許多海床的地方

but the marianas trench can cut as deep as 11 km. When you look at the life forms at these depths,

但是，馬里亞納海溝深達11公里。你們看著這個深度的海底生活型態

the bathypelagic and abyssopelagic might as well be another planet.

深層區與超深層區可能會是你們從未感受過的世界

Giant isopods, viperfish, gulper eels, glowing jellyfish, almost everything looks like a nightmare or a fever dream.

巨型深海大虱、毒蛇魚、吞噬鳗、發光水母，在這裡，每個東西看起來都既是恐怖又充滿想像的

Even shrimp that cluster around hydrothermal vents are oddly pale and ghostly,

甚至小蝦會是慘白的，聚集在噴出熱泉（經由地熱加熱過的水，從海底的裂縫噴出）的裂縫邊

why does everything look so weird down here?

為什麼在深海中的每個生物看起來都如此的怪異？

Well like all animals, their environment plays a huge role in their evolution,

恩，就像每個動物一樣，環境是影響牠們進化的最大因素

and the deep sea is about as extreme an environment you can find. The biggest factor is the pressure.

而深海就是屬於較為極端的環境。最大影響之處就是深海的壓力

For every kilometer you dive down, pressure becomes a hundred times greater than the air pressure we experience on the surface.

只要你們潛入每一公里，相較於淺水區的氣壓，深海水中的壓力會是100倍的加深

That means at the ocean floor a body would have to withstand 600 times the pressure it would up here.

這意思是在海底中，牠們的身體需要能夠承受600倍的壓力

To do that it helps to be flexible, with soft bodies or cartilage that bends without breaking.

能夠熟悉這樣的壓力就能不受限的行動自如，而不會受傷

More watery bodies keep them from compressing, and

含水的身體可以預防被抑制住，而且

it’s hypothesized that an elongated shape would help organisms cope with pressure too,

它會被假定為細長形的，會幫助有機體能夠承受那樣的壓力

which would explain the abundance of eel-shaped fish in the depths.

這也就是為什麼在深海中會有那麼多細長的魚

Flat rays would really feel the pounds per square inch across their large area bodies.

扁平的魟魚會很容易感受到重量在牠們大面積的身軀上

The pressure even affects deep sea life at a cellular level.

這樣的壓力甚至也會影響到深海生物的細胞質

Their cell membranes need more unsaturated fats to keep them liquid,

牠們的細胞膜需要更多的不飽和脂肪酸來維持牠們的飽水性

otherwise their walls would become crushed and frozen solid and they wouldn’t function.

要不然牠們的細胞壁會因而無法運作，變得脆弱並且凍僵

Inside they have more organic molecules called piezolytes, which bind to water and keep their proteins from being distorted.

牠們有許多的有機分子，稱之為Piezolytes，能有效防止海水的壓力，不讓蛋白質受到扭曲

Fish also need to find new ways to manage their buoyancy down there.

在深海中的魚類也需要學會控制浮力

Gas bladders that fish near the surface use would be crushed, so species develop workarounds.

魚鰾平均密度比水小，就會一直往上浮。所以，物種們藉由演化來解決這樣的浮力問題

The blob fish’s flesh is gooey and low density. At depth the water crushes it into a workable shape, but

水滴魚皮膚的密度與水相差無幾，同時也黏糊糊的。水壓極高的深海造就了水滴魚的外型

unfortunately for the blobfish when we catch them and bring them to the surface they puff out and

不幸的是，我們抓到這樣的水滴魚，帶到岸上時，牠們會變得乾扁，而且

become the poster child for ugly animals. Other fish have fins so long they act as a tripod,

成為代表性的醜陋動物。其牠魚類有很長的鰭，像是三腳架一樣

allowing them to stand on the ocean floor. The long stilts sense vibrations and help them catch prey.

牠們因此可以站立在海底中。這樣長長的腳柱可以藉由偵測震動，來抓到獵物

That’s another problem in the deep: food scarcity. Since no light penetrates there is no plant life.

居住在深海還有另一個問題：食物短缺。因為在深海中沒有足夠的光源，沒有植物可以生存

Everything either survives off falling dead organic matter, chemicals coming out of occasional plumes,

每一個生物體不是吃有機體的腐肉來維持生命、偶爾攝取從羽毛掉落下的化學物質

or the rare other living organisms they find. Unique hunting

就是找到稀有的活跳跳有機體來維持生命。獨特的獵食

strategies are adopted, like anglerfish that lure in prey with bioluminescent light.

策略是需要的，像是鮟鱇魚會利用發光來吸引獵物

They rely on ambush because it takes less energy, and have slow metabolisms to stretch out each meal.

牠們主要進攻方式是埋伏，因為牠們能消耗較少的熱量

Anglers, viperfish and fangtooths have long teeth that trap prey like a cage.

鮟鱇魚、毒蛇鱼、和尖牙魚有著長長的牙齒，就像監獄一樣把獵物牢牢關住

Other fish use lights to confuse predators, and some predators use lights to see, like lanternfish.

其牠魚類藉著發光來混淆掠食者，還有一些掠食者會藉由發光來看四周，像是燈籠魚

Many animals have given up on sight entirely and may have non-functioning eyes or no eyes at all.

許多深海動物，因為缺乏光線，視力功能則失去或是完全地消失

While it’s hard to see and find food this deep, it’s even harder to find a mate.

但是，在這樣的深海中，沒有眼睛是很難找到食物的，甚至沒辦法找到另一半

To overcome this, some fish are hermaphroditic, so no matter what mate they bump into they can reproduce.

為了克服這樣的問題，有些動物則是雌雄同體。所以，不管牠們遇到的是男是女，牠們都可以再繁殖

Anglerfish females release pheromones to attract tiny males. When a male comes along, it attaches himself to her,

女性鮟鱇魚會釋放出費洛蒙來吸引較小的男性生物。只要男性生物一靠近，他就會附著在她的身上

eventually fusing to her and providing sperm in exchange for sustenance.

最後，則會與她交配，提供精液，來獲得他所需的營養

It’s not a hospitable environment, but even at these depths there is still life. Aside from the bizarre nightmare fish,

這不是一個和善的環境。但，即使是這樣，生命仍存在著。除了奇形怪狀的魚之外

there are also, sponges, sea stars, squid, and crabs. No word on pineapple houses though.

深海中也有海綿動物、海星、和螃蟹。不過沒有大鳳梨房子

Even though there are lots of fish in the sea, we’re still taking a pretty big bite out of them.

雖然在這樣的深海中有很多魚類，但我們仍然持續的扼殺牠們

To learn about one proposed solution to overfishing check out Trace’s video here.

想要知道一個解決過度捕撈魚的方法，歡迎案這裡去看看Trace的影片

At the moment of international community has agreed to fish in seasons, with catch quotas and minimum size limits -

在這時候的國際社會同意四季的適量、限制數量的捕撈

with the hope this would allow time for the fish to mature, spawn and build the population back. News flash, it ain't working.

希望這樣的提案可以給予魚類足夠的時間長大、產卵、增加與恢復之前的魚類數量。但，總結：這樣的提案並不可行

More people have been to the moon than the bottom of the Marianas trench.

比起馬里雅納深海溝，月球還比較多人到訪過

So would you rather travel to the ocean floor or the surface of the moon? Let us know in the comments. Subscribe for more. And I will see you next time on DNews.

所以，你們寧願選擇探索海底還是月亮表面呢？留言讓我們知道。歡迎訂閱DNews，你們可以學到更多。我們下回DNews再見！