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The bones of the sea monster are 170 million years old and were discovered in Scotland's Isle of Skye. Paleontologists are excited by the almost-complete skeleton. “There’s over 100 bones there, so a whole bunch of the skeleton, and now we get to get down to the fun business of actually studying it, figuring out what it is".
在苏格兰斯凯岛上发现了距今1.7亿年的几近完整的海怪骨架，古生物学家对这一发现喜出望外。"总共有100多块骨头，骨架体积很大，现在我们就要开始着手做一件很有意思的事情了，那就是，通过研究，弄清楚它究竟是什么"。
What the scientists do know is that the sea monster is more than 4 meters longlist is from a class of ancient marine creatures called ichthyosaurs, which resembled dolphins. The reptile could swim fast, and with its hundreds of cone-shaped teeth, fed on fish and squid.
目前，科学家们可以确定的是，这种海怪体长超过4米，是一种被称作鱼龙的古代海洋生物，其外形与海豚有几分相似，游速很快，且有着发达的锥形牙齿，靠捕食鱼和鱿鱼为生。
The scientists hope to gain a better understanding about the creature's ecosystem and more about the Middle Jurassic period that lasted from 160 to 180 million years ago. Since so few fossils have been discovered from that age, the sea monster is a spectacular find.
科学家们希望进一步了解这一物种的生态环境，以便深入研究距今1.6亿到1.8亿年前的中侏罗世时代。由于该时期的化石极为罕见，因此，此次海怪骨架的发现意义尤其重大。
"It's one of the only good skeletons of one of these ocean reptiles from the middle part of the Jurassic Period. This was a time that was a really interesting moment in evolution. You had all kinds of new groups of dinosaurs and ocean reptiles getting their start, starting to spread around the world".
"这是中侏罗世为数不多的骨架保存相对完好的海洋爬行动物之一。在进化过程中，有一种很有趣的现象，那就是，总是会出现各种各样新的恐龙群和海洋爬行动物群，慢慢地，它们开始在世界各地分散开来"。
Like other ichthyosaurs, this sea monster faded into extinction 95 million years ago, about 30 million years before the dinosaurs disappeared.
和其他鱼龙一样，这种海怪9500万年前逐渐消失，比恐龙灭绝早约3000万年。
"It looks like it was changes in the oceans, in the chemistry and in the ecology of the oceans, and so you had a long-term willowing away of these ichthyosaurs as they became less and less common, less and less diverse, until they trickled away to extinction, and then that is when groups like sharks and ultimately whales and dolphins moved on in".
"现在看来是因为大洋在化学成分及生态环境方面发生了变化，种类越来越稀少，所以人们在很长一段时期里见不到鱼龙，直到最后它们消亡灭绝，在那之后，新的鱼群如鲨鱼，和哺乳动物如鲸鱼、海豚开始进化发展"。
Sea monsters have often captured people's imagination. The skeleton of this one will eventually be put on display for the public to see.
提及海怪，人们总不免浮想联翩。这个海怪的骨架最终也会向公众开放，供人们参观。
