Moon jellies, which are found in shallow bays around the world, look like small, not entirely friendly ghosts.
分布范圍遍及全球淺海灣的海月水母,看起來像個個子嬌小而不太友善的幽靈。
They have translucent bells fringed with pale tentacles, and as they pulse along, it almost seems as if the water itself has come alive. At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, when visitors are invited to touch moon jellies, their first reaction is usually fear. Assured the jellies won't hurt them, the visitors roll up their sleeves and hesitantly reach into the tank.
它們的鐘狀體是透明的,邊緣的觸手顏色淺淡,而它們搏動時,周圍的水似乎活了起來。在巴爾的摩國家水族館,每當游客受邀觸摸海月水母時,他們一開始的反應(yīng)往往是恐懼。經(jīng)確保海月水母不會傷人以后,他們才會卷起袖子,猶豫地把手伸進水池里。
"They're squishy!" I hear one boy squeal.
“它們黏糊糊的!”我聽到一名男孩尖聲叫著。
"They're cool!" a girl exclaims.
“它們好酷!”有個女孩大聲地說。
"I think they're just mesmerizing," Jennie Janssen, the assistant curator who oversees the care of the aquarium's jellyfish, tells me. "They don't have a brain, and yet they're able to survive -- to thrive -- generation after generation."
“我覺得它們著實讓人著迷?!痹擆^負責照管水母的助理研究員珍妮·楊森告訴我?!八鼈儧]有腦,卻能夠一代代生存下來,繁衍旺盛。”