A moray eel watches me with caution.
一条海鳗小心地看着我。
Christmas tree worms burrow into the coral and extend their delicate gills into the water.
圣诞树蠕虫钻入珊瑚中,把它们娇嫩的鳃伸入水中。
Above the reef, schools of silvery baitfish eat plankton.
在礁石上方,成群的银鱼吃着浮游生物。
At night they will hide in the reef, where they will be stalked by Lionfish—beautiful
晚上它们会躲在暗礁里,它们在那儿会被狮子鱼追踪。
but deadly invasive species that originated in the Indo-Pacific.
这种鱼原产于印度—太平洋,是一种美丽但致命的入侵物种。
With no natural predators in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, Lionfish populations are skyrocketing.
由于它们在墨西哥湾和加勒比海地区没有天敌,狮子鱼的数量正在猛增。
Parrotfish are a common sight on all corals reefs.
鹦嘴鱼在所有珊瑚礁上都很常见。
They eat the algae that lives on and in coral.
它们吃珊瑚上的藻类。
They have hard teeth that can take the abuse of biting at limestone all day.
它们的牙齿很坚硬,可以整天咬食石灰石。
Once the parrotfish gets used to me, I can get pretty close for some nice shots.
一旦鹦嘴鱼习惯了我的存在,我就可以靠近拍几张不错的照片。
But when I look up, I have attracted the attention of a Barracuda…and it's circling!
但当我抬头一看,我吸引到了梭鱼的注意,它正在盘旋!
This is definitely not normal Barracuda behavior.
这绝对不是梭鱼的正常行为。
While this fish does look mean, looks can be deceiving.
虽然它看起来很不太友好,但外表可能是骗人的。
The fact is that they're almost never aggressive to divers.
事实上,它们几乎从不攻击潜水员。
So what's going on?
怎么回事?
It doesn't take long to figure out that I have stumbled into the barracuda's cleaning station.
没过多久,我就发现自己误入了梭鱼的清洁站。
As soon as I get out of the way, the barracuda swims up, does its best to hold still,
我一让开,梭鱼就游了上来,尽力保持静止。
and soon receives the attention of a cleaner fish in the form of a juvenile Spanish Hogfish.
很快,它受到一条比较干净的鱼的注意,它是一条红普提鱼的幼苗。
The Hogfish is searching for parasites on the barracuda to eat.
红普提鱼的正在梭鱼身上寻找寄生虫吃。
If it can find any, the Hogfish gets fed and the barracuda gets rid of an annoying hitch-hiker.
如果能找到的话,红普提鱼就有食物了,而且梭鱼可以摆脱这些惹人烦的寄生虫。
It's good for everyone.
大家都能获益。
So the barracuda just keeps orbiting around the Hogfish's lair.
所以梭鱼一直绕着红普提鱼打转。
All too soon, once again it's time to make our way back to the world above.
一切都太快了,又到了返回海上世界的时候了。
Christine and I do a safety stop just below the boat.
我和克里斯蒂娜在船下安全停靠。
While we are hanging on the mooring line, a manta ray swims by!
我们抓到缆绳时,一条蝠鲼游过来!
You can't beat that for safety stop entertainment!
你不能因为怕受伤而放弃娱乐!
Woo, that was fantastic!
喔,太棒了!
Such a great dive with nice clear water…I love it!
在清澈的水里潜水真是太棒了,我喜欢!
Later in the day, as the sun sets, it's getting to be time for the coral spawn.
当天晚些时候,太阳下山时,珊瑚该产卵了。
We can only hope that tonight is the night.
我们只能希望今晚就是产卵的时间。
It only happens a few nights per year.
每年只有几个晚上产卵。
When we start seeing the eggs at the surface, we know we hit the jackpot.
当我们开始看到海面上的卵时,我们知道运气太好了。
It's time to go!!
该走了!!
Our group of divers rush to hit the water.
我们这群潜水员冲向海面。
As I descend into the dark ocean, it looks more like outer space.
当我潜入黑暗的海洋时,它看起来更像是外太空。
I'm surrounded by constellations of coral spawn.
我周围都是珊瑚群。
I'm getting worried that we missed the main event.
我担心我们会错过最重要的事。
Down on the reef, I frantically search for spawning coral.
在暗礁上,我疯狂地寻找正在产卵的珊瑚。
But it doesn't take long to find a coral colony that hasn't spawned yet.
但很快就能找到一个还没有产卵的珊瑚群。
Each polyp of this brain coral is incubating a single gamete bundle.
这种脑珊瑚的每一个息肉都在孵化单个的配子束。
It looks like an egg, but brain corals are hermaphrodites.
它看起来像一个鸡蛋,但脑珊瑚是雌雄同体的。
Each bundle contains an egg and sperm together.
每一束包含一个卵子和精子。
As the bundles are released and float away, they later separate into eggs and sperm,
这些束经释放并漂走,它们随后分离成卵子和精子,
so they can cross-fertilized in the water column.
这样它们就可以在水柱中交叉受精。
I'm conflicted as I patiently wait for a coral colony to spawn.
我耐心等待珊瑚群产卵时,心情很矛盾。
I have no way of knowing what I'm missing somewhere else on the reef while I focus all my attention here.
当我把所有注意力都集中在这儿时,我无法知道自己错过了暗礁其他地方正在发生的事。
But this is what I came to see!
但这就是我此行的目的!
The miracle of life.
生命的奇迹。
The night may be special to the coral, but the parrotfish is trying to get some well-deserved rest.
夜晚对珊瑚来说可能很特别,但是鹦嘴鱼正想好好休息。
I'm pretty sure the honeycomb cowfish is annoyed by my video lights and wants me to leave.
我敢肯定蜂巢角鱼被我摄像机上的电灯惹恼了,想让我离开。
The barracuda has lost interest in getting cleaned and hunkered down for the night.
梭鱼对打扫卫生和蜷缩着过夜失去了兴趣。
Our timing was good.
我们的时机很好。
The coral spawn is about over by the time we need to leave.
我们要离开时,珊瑚产卵已经结束。
I'm thrilled to have been a part of the expedition to the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
我很高兴参加了花园河岸国家海洋保护区的探险。
The sponge-covered topography of Stetson Bank with its diverse inhabitants is an underwater photographer's aradise.
斯泰森河岸海绵覆盖的地形及其多样的居民,是水下摄影师的天堂。
And the reef-covered shallows of the Flower Garden Banks are more densely-packed than many Caribbean reefs.
花园河岸覆盖着礁石的浅滩,比许多加勒比海的礁石更加密集。
Seeing the coral spawn was icing on the cake.
看到珊瑚卵在硬块上结冰。
The Gulf of Mexico is definitely much more than meets the eye.
墨西哥湾绝对比我们眼前看到的要丰富多彩。