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Next on Jonathan Bird's Blue World, Jonathan spends a week underwater at night waiting for the coral to spawn!
接下来请收看乔纳森·伯德的蓝色世界，乔纳森夜潜一周，等待珊瑚产卵!
Hi, I'm Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
嗨，我是乔纳森·伯德，欢迎来到我的世界！
Coral reefs are amazingly beautiful underwater sculptures that grow in tropical waters and provide essential habitat for fish and invertebrates, as well as form an important part of the tropical ocean ecosystem.
珊瑚礁是生长在热带水域里极其美丽的水下雕塑，它们为鱼类和无脊椎动物提供栖息地，同时也构成热带海洋生态系统的重要组成部分。
Some coral, like this bushy gorgonian, may look like a plant.
有些珊瑚看起来像植物，比如这丛茂密的柳珊瑚。
Other coral, such as this brain coral, looks like a boulder on the sea floor.
其他的珊瑚，如脑珊瑚，看起来像海床上的一块巨石。
But coral is alive, and it's an animal. Look close enough and you'll see hundreds of little mouths, such as the ones on this star coral colony.
但珊瑚是活的动物，仔细观察，你会看到成百上千的小口，比如这个星珊瑚群上的一个个小口。
Each mouth belongs to an individual coral animal, called a polyp.
每个小口归属于一个珊瑚，它们叫做珊瑚虫。
Corals are related to jellies, so think of a coral colony as hundreds or thousands of tiny jellies all clumped together.
珊瑚与水母相关，所以可以把珊瑚群想象为成百上千的小水母聚集在一起。
Like jellies, coral has stinging tentacles to catch prey, which it mostly does at night.
珊瑚像水母一样，也用刺状的触角来捕捉猎物，它们主要是在夜间捕食。
But unlike jellies, corals grow attached to the bottom and often create a hard skeleton to hold themselves down.
但与水母不同的是，珊瑚会附着在海底，经常形成一个坚硬的骨架来支撑自己。
This begs the question—how does an animal that can't move reproduce and make a new colony in a different place.
这就引出了一个问题：一个不能移动的动物是如何在另一个地方繁殖并形成一个新群体。
I'm on a mission to document how coral reproduces...so I have come to Bonaire, one of the greatest places in the world to learn about coral spawning.
我的任务是记录珊瑚如何繁殖...所以我来到博内尔，这是世界上了解珊瑚繁殖最棒的地点。
Biologists have been studying coral reproduction here on Bonaire for more than a decade.
生物学家十多年来一直在博内尔研究珊瑚繁殖。
Bonaire is an island in the southern part of the Caribbean near Venezuela.
博内尔岛是加勒比海南部靠近委内瑞拉的一个岛屿。
It's a beautiful place, full of Dutch architecture because it is part of the Netherlands.
这是一个美丽的地方，因为它属于荷兰，所以岛上有很多荷兰式建筑。
The rocky, windward shoreline is rough, desolate and pounded by crashing waves, but the other side of the island is calm and tranquil, where it is protected from the trade winds.
迎风的海岸线布满岩石，崎岖、荒凉，被汹涌的海浪拍打着，但岛的另一边因为免受信风的侵袭，显得平静又安宁。
It's here that I will be diving to observe the coral.
我将在这里潜水观察珊瑚。
Coral reproduction is not the easiest thing in the world to observe. That's because coral reproduces by spawning. It only does it at night, and it only happens a couple nights per year.
很难观察到珊瑚繁殖，因为珊瑚通过产卵繁殖，它一年中只在几个夜间产卵。
I have come to Bonaire a week after the full moon in September, when the corals are predicted to spawn.
我在九月满月后的一周来到博内尔，估计那时珊瑚会产卵。
Why a week after the full moon? Well it has to do with the tides. During a full moon you have what is called a spring tide.
为什么是满月后的一周？这和潮汐有关。在满月期间，会出现大潮。
That's when the high tide is really high and the low tide is really low, and you have a huge amount of water movement between those two tides.
这时高潮很高，低潮很低，两个潮汐之间有大量的海水移动。
A week later you have what's called a neap tide. That's when the high tide is not quite so high and the low tide is not quite so low.
一周后，会出现小潮，就是高潮不太高，低潮又不太低的时候。
So you have a smaller amount of movement between the two tides.
两次潮汐之间的海水移动量较小。
Less water movement means less current and less current means that the eggs from the coral have more time to float around in the water and get fertilized before the current takes them away.
海水移动减少意味着水流减少，水流减少意味着珊瑚卵有更多时间在水中漂浮，并在水流带走它们之前受精。
As the sun sets, I prepare my gear. Soon I'll be heading out for a night dive. The corals spawn under the cover of darkness.
太阳下山时，我备好装备，一会就要去参加夜潜了。珊瑚将在黑夜笼罩下产卵。
Well, lets go see what's happening on the reef!
我们去看看珊瑚礁那发生了什么！
I head down the steps of the dock at Captain Don's Habitat. Cameraman Tim and I are diving from the dock because the reef is only a few hundred feet off shore. We can do as many dives as we need.
我走下唐船长栖地所在码头的台阶，我和摄影师蒂姆要从码头上潜下去，因为珊瑚礁离海岸只有几百英尺，我们可以尽情潜。
Down on the reef, I start hunting for signs that the coral might be ready to spawn. It's pretty dark! I can only see as far as my flashlight beam.
潜到珊瑚礁这里，我开始寻找准备产卵的珊瑚。周围一片漆黑！我只能看到手电筒光照的范围。
I am looking at each coral head closely. If a coral colony is getting ready to spawn, the polyps will be swollen with the eggs they are going to release. These don't look ready.
我仔细看每个珊瑚头，如果珊瑚群准备产卵，珊瑚虫会因将要释放的卵而肿胀起来。这些看起来还不行。
Movement catches my eye. A Spiny lobster is walking down the reef slope, so I take a few minutes to watch. The spiny lobster has no big claws like the lobsters in New England.
有东西在动，一只带刺的龙虾正沿着珊瑚礁的斜坡爬行，我花了几分钟时间看它。多刺的龙虾没有新英格兰龙虾那样的大爪子。
Instead, its long antennae are covered in sharp spines for protection.
它的长触角上覆盖着尖刺，能够起到保护的作用。
Nearby, an octopus is on the prowl, hunting for dinner. I follow along with my bright video lights, but it doesn't take long for the octopus to decide that I'm not helping its chances of finding a meal.
旁边又来了一只章鱼，它在四处觅食。我用明亮的视频灯追着它，但章鱼很快就确定我没法帮它找到食物。
It gives me the slip with a squirt of ink as it jets away into a hole.
它喷出一股黑色液体后就溜进洞中。
