新奇事件簿 科学家破解海马的秘密

For the first time, scientists have unlocked the secrets to one of the world's most recognizable and unique, but least understood fish – the seahorse. Researchers have worked out the genetic¹ code of the Southeast Asian tiger tail seahorse. They now have the genetic map of all of its DNA². This means scientists can find out a lot more about this sea creature than before. They can now start to figure out why seahorses are so different to other fish. Unlike other fish, seahorses have no teeth. Another difference is the male brooding of their young - male seahorses carry babies and give birth to them instead of females. In addition, seahorses do not swim horizontally like other fish; they swim vertically³ (up and down).

科学家首次破解了世界上最容易辨别，最独特，但是人们了解最少的鱼类——海马的秘密。研究人员描绘出了东南亚虎尾海马的基因序列。他们现在已经掌握了海马所有的DNA图谱。这意味着科学家可以比以前更好地了解这种海洋生物。他们现在可以开始调查为何海马与其他鱼类差别如此之大。与其他鱼类不同，海马没有牙齿。另外一个区别是，海马由雄性来哺育后代——雄性怀孕，然后生育幼崽。此外，海马不像其他鱼类一样水平游动，而是垂直上下游动。

Scientists from Germany’s University of Konstanz and others from China and Singapore helped to sequence the genome of the tiger tail seahorse. A genome is a map of all the genes⁴ and genetic information in a cell or organism. Seahorses started to change from other fish about 100 million years ago. They began to take on their unusual shape, which resembles a horse. There is a total of 54 species of seahorse. Its scientific name is Hippocampus. The word 'Hippocampus' comes from the Ancient Greek word hippos meaning 'horse' and kampos meaning 'sea monster'. The word 'seahorse' can also be written as two separate words (sea horse), or hyphenated with a dash between the two words (sea-horse).

来自康斯坦茨大学的科学家和来自中国，新加坡的研究人员帮助确定了虎尾海马的基因序列。基因组是所有基因的图谱，包含一个细胞或有机体所有的基因信息。大约1亿年前，海马开始从其他鱼类转变。它们开始呈现出不同的形状，就像马一样。海马共有54个品种。它的学名叫做Hippocampus（马头鱼尾兽）。"Hippocampus"一词来自古希腊词语，hippos的意思是马，kampos的意思是海怪。seahorse这个单词也可以分开写作sea horse，或者中间加上连字符，写作sea-horse。

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

3 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

4 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪