美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Googly-Eyed' Stubby Squid Captures Internet's Attention

'Googly-Eyed' Stubby Squid Captures Internet's Attention

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The cutest little thing was found on the ocean floor this week - a little googly-eyed purple squid off the coast of California. It looks like a close friend of Nemo. I'm joined now by Samantha Wishnak, who's a science fellow on board the Nautilus ship that captured the endearing cephalopod on video. Thanks so much for being with us.

SAMANTHA WISHNAK: Thanks for having us.

SIMON: He's just adorable. Is it a he, a she? What is it?

WISHNAK: We're not quite sure on the he or she of this squid. But we do know it is a stubby squid, or a North Pacific Bobtail Squid, scientific name Rossia pacifica. This animal looks like a cross between an octopus¹ and squid but tends to be more related to the cuttlefish². As you can tell, it spends a lot of life on the sea floor. We encountered it sort of perched on the sediment³ with that now-famous googly-eyed expression.

SIMON: All purple and just has the most adorable little endearing eyes.

WISHNAK: Yes. We probably encountered this squid at a time it wasn't expecting to see a 5,500-pound underwater robot moving towards it.

SIMON: So he was just surprised?

WISHNAK: Right. Scuba⁴ divers⁵ actually encounter these squid at scuba diving depths, and they say that when, you know, their dive lights turn on them they get this similar kind of deer-in-the-headlights look.

SIMON: Yeah.

WISHNAK: They're actually nocturnal hunters, so they spend a lot of their day actually burrowed⁶ in the sea floor with just their eyes poking⁷ out. And then when they feel comfortable, when it's time to hunt, they'll come out and actually start creeping along, looking for their next meal. So I think we encountered a squid on the hunt that wasn't expecting to see us. But yes, this one is bright purple, which was pretty exciting for us to see. Definitely stood out against the mud of the canyon⁸ we were in.

SIMON: And he or she eats what?

WISHNAK: So these are squid that kind of hang out around the sea floor. They spend their day burrowed in the settlement with just their eyes poking out, so that's kind of their best form of camouflage⁹. But they also have the ability to activate¹⁰ a little sticky mucus jacket. And once they've activated¹¹ that little jacket, sediment - so pebbles¹², sand, whatever they're sort of burrowing¹³ in - will stick to that jacket and give it a nice extra layer of camouflage. So they lie in wait - they're ambush¹⁴ predators¹⁵ - and as soon as a small fish or a shrimp¹⁶ crawls by it, it'll actually sort of turn off that mucus jacket and slide out of the sediment to lunge for their next meal.

SIMON: Cute, but don't underestimate them.

WISHNAK: Exactly. Very cute, but definitely ambush predators you don't want to encounter if you're a shrimp.

SIMON: You're now docked in San Francisco, and I think that's pretty close to Pixar. I mean, any agents from that studio on board?

WISHNAK: (Laughter) Not that I know of. Maybe we have some sleeper¹⁷ agents. But one of the most interesting things about all the media requests we've received is that the media requests typically start out with, are you sure this is real? Is this a real animal? How do we know it's real? So I think it definitely captured the imagination of both our researchers on board and our hundreds of viewers who were watching as we discovered this guy.

SIMON: Samantha Wishnak, who's a science fellow aboard the Nautilus that discovered the squid. By the way, you can see cute squid pics on our website, npr.org. Thanks very much for being with us.

WISHNAK: Thanks, Scott.

1 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

2 cuttlefish   

n.乌贼，墨鱼

参考例句：

• I have no idea about how to prepare those cuttlefish and lobsters.我对如何烹调那些乌贼和龙虾毫无概念。
• The cuttlefish spurts out dark ink when it is in danger.乌鲗遇到危险的时候会喷出黑色液体。

3 sediment   

n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物)

参考例句：

• The sediment settled and the water was clear.杂质沉淀后，水变清了。
• Sediment begins to choke the channel's opening.沉积物开始淤塞河道口。

4 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

5 divers   

adj.不同的；种种的

参考例句：

• He chose divers of them,who were asked to accompany him.他选择他们当中的几个人，要他们和他作伴。
• Two divers work together while a standby diver remains on the surface.两名潜水员协同工作，同时有一名候补潜水员留在水面上。

6 burrowed   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的过去式和过去分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The rabbits burrowed into the hillside. 兔子在山腰上打洞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She burrowed her head into my shoulder. 她把头紧靠在我的肩膀上。 来自辞典例句

7 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

8 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

9 camouflage   

n./v.掩饰，伪装

参考例句：

• The white fur of the polar bear is a natural camouflage.北极熊身上的白色的浓密软毛是一种天然的伪装。
• The animal's markings provide effective camouflage.这种动物身上的斑纹是很有效的伪装。

10 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

11 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

12 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

13 burrowing   

v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的现在分词 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• What are you burrowing around in my drawer for? 你在我抽屉里乱翻什么？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The forepaws are also used for burrowing and for dragging heavier logs. 它们的前爪还可以用来打洞和拖拽较重的树干。 来自辞典例句

14 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

15 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

17 sleeper   

n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺

参考例句：

• I usually go up to London on the sleeper. 我一般都乘卧车去伦敦。
• But first he explained that he was a very heavy sleeper. 但首先他解释说自己睡觉很沉。