海底兩萬里 第498期 第31章 章魚(5)
Its slanting fins drew it to depths of 2,000 and 3,500 meters. There animal life was represented by nothing more than sea lilies, starfish, delightful crinoids with bell-shaped heads like little chalices on straight stems, top-shell snails, blood-red tooth shells, and fissurella snails, a large species of coastal mollusk.
船的縱斜機板把船帶到了2000至3500米的深海中。在那里，有生命的動物就只有海百合、海星、頭像水母、修直的莖上長著一片小萼的可愛的五角海百合，馬蹄螺，血紅的齒魚以及屬于大種的沿海軟體動物的裂紋魚。
By April 20 we had risen to an average level of 1,500 meters. The nearest land was the island group of the Bahamas, scattered like a batch of cobblestones over the surface of the water. There high underwater cliffs reared up, straight walls made of craggy chunks arranged like big stone foundations, among which there gaped black caves so deep our electric rays couldn't light them to the far ends.
4月20日，我們又浮到150米的中層海水中。當(dāng)時離我們最近的陸地是巴哈馬群島，它像一堆石堆一樣散在海面上。在那里屹立著一些高高的海底懸崖，那是一些由粗糙石塊砌成的、座基寬大的高墻，在它們之間，有一些我們的燈光照不到底的黑乎乎的坑洞。
These rocks were hung with huge weeds, immense sea tangle, gigantic fucus-- a genuine trellis of water plants fit for a world of giants.
這些巖石上鋪著大海草，大型的昆布和巨大的墨角藻，真是一道道海產(chǎn)植物做成的墻壁，這里稱得上是巨人泰坦的世界。
In discussing these colossal plants, Conseil, Ned, and I were naturally led into mentioning the sea's giganticanimals. The former were obviously meant to feed the latter. However, through the windows of our almost motionless Nautilus, I could see nothing among these long filaments other than the chief articulates of the divisionBrachyura: long-legged spider crabs, violet crabs, and sponge crabs unique to the waters of the Caribbean.
我、康塞爾和尼德一說到這些大型海洋植物，就自然而然地談到了大型的海底動物。大型的海底動物顯然是以這些大型的海洋植物為食。然而，透過幾乎是絲紋不動的“鸚鵡螺號”船上的玻璃窗，在長長的海草葉子上，我只看到了一些腕足類的主要節(jié)肢動物，像長爪海蜘蛛蟹、紫海蟹和加勒比海特有的海綿蟹。
