国家地理 水母为何如此迷人(5)（在线收听）

"A big jellyfish bloom makes the headlines, while a lack of a jellyfish bloom isn't even worth reporting," says Lucas Brotz, a marine zoologist at the University of British Columbia. While some jellyfish species seem to thrive on human disturbance -- off the coast of Namibia, for example, overfishing may have tipped the ecosystem into a new state dominated by compass and crystal jellyfish -- other more finicky species appear to be declining. Researchers in a couple parts of the world have reported a drop in the number of jellyfish species they are encountering.

英属哥伦比亚大学海洋动物学家卢卡斯·布罗兹表示：“水母突然大量增生会成为头条新闻，不过没有大量增生时，根本也没有人想报道。”尽管一些水母物种似乎是在人类活动的干扰下增生的，比如在纳米比亚沿海，过度捕捞可能已经将生态系统带入了一个由罗盘水母和水晶水母主导的新状态，但其他更为挑剔的物种似乎正在减少。世界上有几个地区的研究人员都指出，他们碰到的水母物种变少了。

Meanwhile, if people are having more unpleasant encounters with jellyfish, is it because they're taking over the seas or because we are?

另一方面，如果人类与水母之间越来越常发生不愉快的相遇，那是因为水母接管了海洋，还是人类接管了海洋？

"Anytime we have an adverse encounter with jellyfish, it's because humans have invaded the oceans," Haddock says. "We're the ones who are encroaching into their habitat." Jellyfish are only doing what they've been doing generation after generation for hundreds of millions of years -- just pulsing along, silently, brainlessly, and, seen in the right light, gorgeously.

“我们在任何时候与水母的不愉快遭遇，都是因为人类入侵了海洋，”哈达克表示。“我们才是侵入它们栖息地的人。”水母只是做着它们数亿年来一代代一直在做的事情：在水里静静地、无脑地脉动着，若是用对的眼光看它们，还能看出那姿态美妙非凡。