纪录片《我们的地球》 第169期 多样浅海(03)（在线收听）

Reefs are the work of polyps tiny colonial animals like minute sea anemones

珊瑚礁是珊瑚虫的产物，一种像小海葵的有机生命群体，

yet the great barrier reef is so big it can be seen from the Moon.

可是它们生成的大堡礁甚至可以在月球上看到。

It's actually two thousand separate reefs

大堡礁由超过2000个的独立珊瑚礁组成，

that together form a barrier stretching for over a thousand miles along Australia's northeastern coast.

绵延在澳大利亚东北部海岸，长度超过1000公里。

Despite it's vast size, this reef does not contain the greatest variety of marine life on the planet.

不管有多大，这里珊瑚礁也不可能容纳全部的海洋生物。

For that one must travel north to Indonesia.

让我们去印度尼西亚的北部看看。

There are individual reefs in Indonesia that contain almost as many kinds of fish as live in the whole of the Caribbean.

印度尼西亚的这些珊瑚礁所容纳的各种鱼类几乎跟全加勒比海一样多。

There are also ten times the number of coral species.

而且珊瑚物种也要多十倍。

Corals thrive in these waters with the help of microscopic plants, algae that grow within the tissues of the polyps

珊瑚在一种微生植物的帮助下生长，海藻是居住在珊瑚虫里的一种共生藻，

and the polyps feed by snaring passing morsels with their tentacles.

珊瑚虫利用触手抓食经过它身边的食物。

At night, the algae are inactive but then, the polyps put out even more tentacles

到了晚上，共生藻停止工作，珊瑚开始释放更多的触手，

so coral in effect feeds around the clock.

这样，珊瑚虫可以昼夜不断地有效进食。