腔棘鱼的发现

本BBC播客在英国境外由广告支持。

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside The UK.

1962年10月，原子弹将使世界濒临全面毁灭的边缘。

In October 1962, the atomic bomb will bring the world very close to total destruction.

当时形势万分危急。

The stakes were so high.

两位关键人物——肯尼迪总统和赫鲁晓夫总书记——站在核弹与人类灭绝之间。

Two men, president Kennedy and premier Khrushchev, stand between the bomb and nuclear annihilation.

比人类战争史上使用过的所有爆炸物总和还要强大的火力，就部署在古巴这个小港口。

More explosive power than has ever been used in the history of warfare is located in this little port on Cuba.

古巴导弹危机就此爆发。

The Cuban Missile Crisis has begun.

这里是BBC国际频道的《核弹》节目。

This is the bomb from the BBC World Service.

第三季《肯尼迪与赫鲁晓夫》——古巴导弹危机始末。

Season three, Kennedy and Khrushchev, the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

无论你在哪里收听BBC播客，都可以搜索'The bomb'。

Search for the bomb wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

你好。

Hello.

我是格雷格·詹纳，《You're Dead to Me》的主持人。

Greg Jenner here, host of You're Dead to Me.

在我的新家庭友好播客系列《Dead Funny History》中，历史人物短暂复活，与我争论、讲述他们的生平故事，有时还会惹恼我。

In my new family friendly podcast series, Dead Funny History, historical figures come back to life for just about long enough to argue with me, tell us their life stories, and sometimes get on my nerves.

共有15集精彩内容等待解锁，包括拉美西斯大帝、约瑟芬·贝克的故事，以及足球历史等等。

There's 15 lovely episodes to unwrap, including the life of Ramses the great, Josephine Baker, and the history of football plus much, much more.

今年圣诞节，让《Dead Funny History》给你的耳朵带来享受吧。

So this Christmas, give your ears a treat with dead funny history.

你可以在BBC网站的《You're Dead to Me》栏目或任何播客平台找到它。

You can find it in the you're dead to me feed on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

嗨。

Hi.

这里是BBC国际频道的《见证历史》节目。

This is Witness History from the BBC World Service.

我是瑞秋·内勒。

I'm Rachel Naylor.

如果你是我们的老听众，应该熟悉流程了。

If you're not new to us, you know the drill.

你可以跳过接下来的15秒。

You can skip the next fifteen seconds.

但如果你在听，欢迎你。

But if you are, welcome.

这个播客通过采访历史亲历者，带你回到历史上的某个时刻。

With a podcast that takes you back to a moment in history by speaking to those who were there.

每集时长仅9分钟，且每个工作日更新。

Episodes are just nine minutes long, and they come out every weekday.

如果这听起来是你想听的内容，何不订阅并开启推送通知呢？

If that sounds like something you'd like to listen to, why not subscribe and turn your push notifications on?

今天，我将带您回到1930年代的南非，当时发现了一种被认为已灭绝6500万年的鱼类。

Today, I'm taking you back to nineteen thirties South Africa when a fish was discovered that was believed to have been extinct for sixty five million years.

它被认为是我们的祖先，也是鱼类如何进化成四足两栖动物的关键缺失环节。

It is thought to be our ancestor and the missing link between how fish evolved into four legged amphibians.

这就是腔棘鱼的故事。

This is the story of the coelacump.

在关于地球生命的所有传说中，有一个比其他所有故事都更加神奇——关于我们如何获得双腿的故事。

Of all the tales of life on Earth, there is one more fabulous than all the others, the story of how we got our legs.

科学家们认为，很久以前，一条鱼登上陆地，长出腿，开始行走。

Scientists believe that long ago, a fish came onto the land, grew legs, and started to walk.

这是生命史上最重要的事件之一，因为那个动物就是我们的祖先。

It is one of the most crucial events in the history of life because that animal is our ancestor.

但那条鱼如何以及为何长出双腿，仍是进化史上最大的谜团之一。

But how and why that fish grew legs is one of the biggest mysteries in evolution.

这个谜题困扰了科学界最杰出的头脑长达一个多世纪。

It baffled the finest minds in science for over a century.

这种情况一直持续到1938年。

That is until 1938.

南非东南海岸东伦敦博物馆的馆长在漫不经心地翻看渔民的捕获物时，发现了一些不寻常的东西，正如她在200年对BBC讲述的那样。

The curator of the East London Museum on South Africa's Southeast Coast was idly sifting through a fisherman's catch when she spotted something unusual, as she told the BBC in 2001.

1938年12月22日是个美妙的日子。

12/22/1938 was a wonderful day.

我遇见了这条最美丽的鱼。

I came onto this most beautiful fish.

它刚好有五英尺长。

It was just on five foot.

它身上有银色、金色、绿色和蓝色，还带着白色的斑点。

It was silver and gold and green and blue and had white kind of flecks on it.

令我震惊的是，它长着这些像四肢一样的鳍。

And to my horror, it had these slim like fins.

我心想，这到底是什么东西？

And I thought to myself, what on earth can this be?

我从未见过这样的鱼。

I've never seen a fish like this.

这是玛乔丽·考特尼·拉蒂默。

That's Marjorie Courtney Latimer.

她急忙将这条1.5米长的鱼送去保存。

She rushed the 1.5 meter long fish off to have it preserved.

然后她写信给鱼类学家JLB·史密斯，请他前来鉴定。

Then she wrote to JLB Smith, an ichthyologist or fish biologist, to ask him to come and identify it.

这是那封信件，2018年由一位演员为BBC朗读。

Here's the letter, which was voiced by an actor for the BBC in 2018.

亲爱的史密斯博士，昨天有人送来一个极其古怪的标本。

Dear doctor Smith, I had the most queer looking specimen brought to notice yesterday.

它全身覆盖着厚重的鳞片，几乎像盔甲一样，鱼鳍类似四肢且布满鳞片直至须状边缘。

It is coated in heavy scales, almost armour like, the fins resemble limbs and are scaled right up to a fringe of filament.

背鳍棘的每根细丝上都有微小的白色棘刺。

The spinous dorsal has tiny white spines down each filament.

注意红色墨水绘制的草图。

Note drawing inked in red.

玛乔丽继续描述她如何剥开层层黏液，露出她见过的最美丽的鱼。

Marjorie went on to describe how she picked away the layers of slime to reveal the most beautiful fish she had ever seen.

但这正好发生在圣诞节前。

But this was just before Christmas.

过了整整一周多，JLB才看到她的信。

It was more than a week before JLB picked up her letter.

他立即在1939年3月1日回了一封电报，简短地说

He sent back a telegram immediately on the 01/03/1939 saying simply

最重要的是保存好骨骼和鱼鳃，这与描述的鱼类相符

Most important preserved skeleton and gills equals fish described.

当时正值南非夏季，在没有冷藏设备的情况下，玛乔丽只能用填充法保存这条鱼，正如她在另一封信中解释的那样

This was the summer in South Africa, and without refrigeration, Marjorie had to preserve the fish by stuffing it, as she explained in another letter.

亲爱的史密斯博士，当这个标本送来时，我发现它是独一无二的，我竭尽所能地保存它

Dear doctor Smith, when the specimen came in and I found it to be something unique, I strove to do all I could to preserve it.

标本重达127磅，状态良好，只是天气非常炎热，必须立即开展工作。

The specimen weighed 127 pounds and was in good condition, only it was very hot and work had to proceed at once.

我已竭尽所能进行保存，确保不遗漏任何细节，但想到最终我还是任由鱼身和鱼鳃被丢弃，不禁感到忧心忡忡。

I have done every possible thing to preserve and not lose any points and feel worried to think in the end I allowed the body and gills to be discarded.

此致

Kind regards.

您诚挚的，玛乔丽·考特尼·莱蒂默。

Sincerely yours, Marjorie Courtney Letimer.

JLB震惊不已。

JLB was astounded.

他回信写道：

He wrote back:

从你的绘图和描述来看，这条鱼与已灭绝多年的物种形态相似。

From your drawing and description, the fish resembles forms which have been extinct for many a long year.

我认为它必定具有重大的科学价值。

I feel it must be of great scientific value.

一个月后，在二月，JLB得以亲自前往东伦敦一探究竟。

A month later, in February, JLB was able to visit East London and see it for himself.

这是玛乔丽再次出现。

Here's Marjorie again.

他站在桌首说道，唉，这条鱼将成为全世界每位科学家热议的话题。

He stood at the head of the table, and he said, well, Alas, he said, this fish will be on the lips of every scientist in the world.

这是条腔棘鱼。

It's a coelacanth.

我如遭雷击般僵立原地。

I stood as if stricken to stone.

是的。

Yes.

没有丝毫疑问，每一片鳞、每一根骨、每一只鳍都确凿无疑。

There was not a shadow of a doubt, scale by scale, bone by bone, fin by fin.

这是条真正的腔棘鱼。

It was a true coelacanth.

JLB在他1956年的著作《古老的前肢》中回忆道。

JLB recalled in his 1956 book, Old Forelegs.

他将这种鱼命名为Latimeria chalumni，以纪念Marjorie Courtney Latimer及其捕获地Chalumna河口。

He named the fish Latimeria chalumni after Marjorie Courtney Latimer and its place of capture, the mouth of the Chalumna River.

腔棘鱼是生活在海面下700米深处的神秘生物，它们早在4.1亿年前就已存在。

Coelacanths are elusive creatures that live in depths up to 700 meters below the surface, and they were around 410,000,000 years ago.

它们体型巨大，可达两米长，体重可达90公斤。

They can be huge, up to two meters long, and weigh up to 90.

这种活化石鱼类凭借其成对的叶状鳍——能像腿一样交替运动——的新闻登上了全球头条。

The story of this living fossil fish with its paired lobe fins that move in an alternating pattern like legs made headlines around the world.

这位是南非格雷厄姆斯敦的史密斯教授，他手中是那条著名鱼类腔棘鱼的模型。

Meet professor Smith of Grahamstown, South Africa with a model of that famous fish, the coelacanth.

腔棘鱼与科学家认为的所有陆地动物祖先鱼类是近亲。

Coelacanths are close relatives of the fish that scientists consider was the ancestor of all land animals.

我毫不怀疑这种鱼能在海底轻松爬行。

I have no doubt that this fish crawls about on the bottom quite easily.

是的。

Yes.

教授说这种鱼是人类的一种祖先。

The professor says the fish is a kind of ancestor of man.

可怜的鱼。

Poor fish.

但JLB知道他必须再找到一条来证明这一点。

But JLB knew he would have to find another one to prove it.

他寻找了十三年，直到1952年

He looked for thirteen years until in 1952

我怀着无比激动的心情向全世界宣布发现了第二条腔棘鱼。

It is my astounding privilege to announce to the world the discovery of a second sealer can.

这种鱼被认为非常重要，甚至派出了军用飞机去取回它。

The fish was thought so important that a military aircraft was dispatched to retrieve it.

JLB从东海岸城市德班飞往马达加斯加的科摩罗群岛，正如他在1953年告诉南非广播公司的那样。

JLB flew from Durban, a city on the East Coast, to the Comoroe Islands of Madagascar, as he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1953.

于是我们降落了。

And down we went.

我们着陆了。

We landed.

我问：'鱼在哪儿？'

I said, where's the fish?

甲板上用棉花包裹着的正是那条鱼。

There on the deck swelled in cotton wool was the fish.

我实在不敢碰它，便请他们打开包裹，他们照做了。

I could not bring myself to touch it, and I asked them to open it, and they did.

我跪下来查看，毫不羞愧地说，经过漫长煎熬后，我流泪了——因为这是真的。

And I knelt down to look, and I'm not ashamed to say that after all that long strain, I wept for it was true.

那是个密封罐，另一条腔棘鱼。

It was a sealer can, another coelacanth.

这一切漫长的煎熬都无比值得。

It was more than worth all that long strain.

他接着描述了它是如何被捕获的。

He went on to describe how it was caught.

这是我的故事。

Me this me this story.

1952年12月20日晚，一位名叫艾哈迈德·侯赛因的狮子渔民在昂儒安岛迪奥莫尼村附近距岸约200码、水深20米处捕鱼时，捕获了一条大鱼。

A lion fisherman, Ahmad Hussian, at the village of Diomoni on the island of Anjuan was fishing in 20 meters of water about 200 yards from shore and caught a large fish on the evening of the 12/20/1952.

他把鱼带回家，幸运的是没有清理它，第二天早上带到了市场。

He took it home, fortunately did not clean it, and next morning took it to the market.

当鱼正在出售时，一个当地人走过来看了看，急切地说不要卖这条鱼，并出示了报纸，说这很值钱。

As the fish was being sold, a native came up, looked at it, and said urgently, don't sell that, and showed the paper, there is much money.

他命令当地人切开鱼身撒盐，但非常不幸的是，他们沿着鱼身整个剖开了，不过没有任何部分丢失。

He ordered the natives to make cuts to put in salt, and most unfortunately, they sliced it open all along the body, but no part was lost.

然后他们用一大堆盐覆盖了它。

And then they covered it with a heap of salt.

就这样，这条鱼虽然发臭了，但柔软的部分都完好无损地保存着。

And so there was the fish, smelly, but the soft parts all there and in good order.

我们匆忙地办完了手续，顾不上法国式的礼节。

Hastily, we completed our formalities with no French politeness.

我给妻子和首相发了电报，上午10点我们带着腔棘鱼和它的气味启程南下，远离炎热。

I sent cables to my wife and the prime minister, and we left at 10AM and set off down south with the coelacanth and its smell and away from the heat.

能带着那条鱼回到自己的国家，我真是感激不尽。

I was terribly thankful to be in my own country with that fish.

教授在南非总理马兰博士面前打开了他的古老珍宝，马兰博士专门调派了一架飞机给他，以便在鱼腐烂前将其运回。

The professor unpacked his antique treasure before South Africa's prime minister, doctor Malan, who had placed a plane at his disposal to collect the fish before decomposition set in.

腔棘鱼，据信在约五千万年前就已灭绝，被描述为一种长有手臂的鱼类，可能将成为人类与其海洋祖先之间的关键纽带。

The coelacanth, thought to have become extinct about fifty million years ago, is described as a fish with arms and may prove to be the link between man and his sea ancestors.

若真如此，我们曾经可真是锅大杂烩。

If so, we were once a pretty kettle of fish.

二十年后，即1972年，英国生物学家兼播音员大卫·爱登堡爵士正在制作一部关于地球生命故事的系列节目。

Twenty years later, in 1972, British biologist and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough, was making a series about the story of life on Earth.

他带着水下摄影师彼得·斯库恩斯前往科摩罗群岛寻找腔棘鱼。

He headed to the Comoros in search of the coelacamp with underwater photographer Peter Scoons.

一位渔民刚划着独木舟抵达港口，船上有一条还活着的腔棘鱼。

A fisherman had just arrived in the harbor with a coelacanth in his canoe, and it was still alive.

彼得抓起他的胶片相机冲向港口，说服渔民将他的腔棘鱼放回水中。

Peter grabbed his film camera, rushed out to the harbor, and persuaded the fisherman to put his coelacanth back in the water.

它已经时日无多。

It was not long for this life.

它昏昏沉沉地漂在海底，肉质鳍无力地摆动，而彼得举着相机在它周围游动拍摄。

Groggily, it drifted along the bottom with feeble waves of its fleshy fins, while Peter swam all around it with his cameras.

于是我们节目中出现了有史以来第一组活体腔棘鱼的影像。

So the first pictures ever taken of a living coelacanth appeared in our program.

1997年，在首次发现近六十年后，人们在印尼发现了第二个物种——拉蒂迈鱼或称印尼腔棘鱼。

In 1997, almost sixty years after the first discovery, a second species was discovered in Indonesia, the Latimeria monaduensis, or Indonesian coelacanth.

如今，我们仍不清楚现存腔棘鱼的数量。

Today, we don't know how many coelacanths there are.

2011年的一项研究估计科摩罗最大岛屿大科摩罗岛的种群数量在300至400条之间，但其他种群尚不明确。

A 2011 study estimated that the population of Grand Komor, the largest island in Comoros, was between three hundred and four hundred, but other populations are not well known.

JLB·史密斯于1968年去世。

JLB Smith died in 1968.

玛乔丽·考特尼·拉蒂默于2004年去世。

Marjorie Courtney Latimer died in 2004.

BBC国际频道《历史见证》节目由我——瑞秋·内勒主持制作。

Witness history from the BBC World Service was presented and produced by me, Rachel Naylor.

如果你对百万年前的历史感兴趣，不妨收听我的另一期节目：关于阿根廷发现的史上最大恐龙——巴塔哥泰坦龙的发现故事。

If you like history from millions of years ago, why not listen to my other episode about the discovery of the largest ever dinosaur, the Pataga titan in Argentina?

感谢您收听至节目尾声。

Thanks for listening to the end.

再见。

Bye.

来自

From

精彩纷呈又光怪陆离的

the brilliant and bizarre

那感觉确实超现实。

It was really surreal.

那里的氛围有点超现实。

It was a a surreal kinda atmosphere there.

你根本看不到任何人。

You couldn't really see anybody.

到令人震惊又出乎意料

To the shocking and unexpected

我只是在想我们现在该怎么办。

I'm just wondering what are we going to do now.

这确实是我最害怕的事情。

This was really my worst fear.

他发现标着牛肉的肉100%是马肉。

He found 100% horsemeat that was labeled as beef.

见证那些由亲历者讲述的、塑造了我们世界的故事。

Witness the stories that have shaped our world told by the people who were there.

当他去工厂时，贵宾犬走在他前面。

When he went to the factory, the poodle went in front him.

所以工作只是，哦，老板来了。

So the work is only, oh, the boss is here.

许多人会因为我们的胜利而失去很多东西。

Many people had many things to lose by our victory.

未来并不那么光明。

The future was not so bright.

见证历史。

Witness history.

我们曾有一位设计师。

We had a designer.

他带来了一个完整的故事板构想，关于女王如何从直升机跳伞出场。

He brought in a fully storyboarded idea about how the queen would arrive by jumping out of a helicopter.

我们都说这主意很棒，但绝对不可能实现。

And we all said, that's brilliant, but it's never gonna happen.

见证历史，请访问bbcworldservice.com/witnesshistory或通过您常用的播客平台收听。

Witness history at bbcworldservice.com/witnesshistory or wherever you get your podcasts.

1962年10月，原子弹将使世界濒临全面毁灭的边缘。

In October 1962, the atomic bomb will bring the world very close to total destruction.

当时的赌注高得惊人。

The stakes were so high.

两位关键人物——肯尼迪总统和赫鲁晓夫总书记——站在核毁灭与炸弹之间。

Two men, president Kennedy and premier Khrushchev, stand between the bomb and nuclear annihilation.

比人类战争史上使用过的所有爆炸物威力更大的武器，就部署在古巴这个狭小的港口。

More explosive power than has ever been used in the history of warfare is located in this tiny little port on Cuba.

古巴导弹危机就此爆发。

The Cuban missile crisis has begun.

这里是BBC国际频道的《核弹风云》节目。

This is the bomb from the BBC World Service.

第三季《肯尼迪与赫鲁晓夫：古巴导弹危机始末》

Season three, Kennedy and Khrushchev, the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

在您获取BBC播客的任何平台搜索《The Bomb》。

Search for the bomb wherever you get your BBC podcasts.