Back home, my friends call me nicknames, such as "The Giant Clam Girl," "Clam Queen," or, "The Mother of Clams."
在老家,我的朋友給我取暱稱, 比如「巨蚌女孩」、 「蚌蛤女王」、 或是「蚌蛤之母。」
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
This is because every time I see them, I talk nonstop about giant clams all day, every day. Giant clams are these massive and colorful shelled marine animals, the largest of its kind. Just look at this shell. The biggest recorded individual was four-and-a-half-feet long and weighed about 550 pounds. That is almost as heavy as three baby elephants.
這是因為每當我見到他們, 就會整天不停地談論著巨蚌, 每天都如此。 巨蚌是這種又大又重 且色彩鮮艷的有殼海洋動物, 是同類中最大的。 看看這個殼。 記錄中最大的巨蚌, 有 4.5 英呎長, 重量約 550 磅。 那幾乎是三隻幼象加起來的重量。
South Pacific legends once described giant clams as man-eaters that would lie in wait on the seabed to trap unsuspecting divers. A story goes that a diver had lost his legs while trying to retrieve a pearl from a giant clam. I thought, "Really?" So out of curiosity, I did an experiment using myself as bait.
南太平洋傳奇中說到巨蚌會吃人, 牠們躺在海底等待, 捕捉那些沒起疑的潛水夫。 有個故事說,一位潛水夫失去了雙腳, 當時他正試圖從巨蚌中取得珍珠。 我心想:「真的嗎?」 出於好奇心, 我做了個實驗,用我自己當餌。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
I carefully placed my hand into the clam's mouth and waited. Hmm ... I still have my hand. It seems that these gentle giants would rather retreat and protect their fleshy bodies than feed on me. So much for those killer clam myths!
我小心地把我的手放到 蚌蛤的口中,等待著。 嗯…… 我的手還在。 似乎這些溫和的巨大生物寧可退開, 保護牠們的肉體, 而非把我當食物。 蚌蛤殺手的神話就到此為止。
Unfortunately, the reality is, we are the giant clams' biggest threat. Considered a delicacy throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, giant clams have been traditionally fished as seafood. Fishermen are particularly interested in their adductor muscles, which are organs that hold the two shells together like a hinge. Just for their muscles, giant clams were almost hunted to extinction between the 1960s and 1980s. Clamshells are also popular in the ornamental trade as jewelry and for display. In the South China Sea, fishermen went out of their way to collect fossilized clamshells by digging through large areas of coral reefs. These were later carved and sold as so-called "ivory handicrafts" in China. Giant clams, dead or alive, are not safe from us. It's a "clamity!"
不幸的是, 事實上我們是巨蚌最大的威脅。 從西太平洋一路到印度洋, 牠們慣例被當成是佳餚, 被捕捉之後,做成海鮮料理。 漁夫特別感興趣的是牠們的閉殼肌, 也就是把兩片殼 連起來的鉸鏈式器官。 只因為牠們的肌肉, 在 1960 到 1980 代間, 巨蚌幾乎被捕殺到絕種。 在飾品貿易上,蚌殼也很搶手, 被當作珠寶,用來展示。 在南海, 漁夫會特地去收集變成化石的蚌殼, 他們會挖遍珊瑚礁來尋找。 這些是在中國被雕刻再販售的 所謂「象牙手工藝品」。 巨蚌,不論死活, 都逃不過我們的手掌心。 這是「蚌災」! (註:從災難 Calamity 改來)
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
With the spotlight on more charismatic marine animals such as the whales and coral reefs, it is easy to forget that other marine life needs our help, too. My fascination with giant clams got me started on conservation research to fill in the knowledge gaps on their ecology and behavior. One of the discoveries that we made was that giant clams could walk across the seafloor. Yes, you heard me right: they can walk.
有魅力的海洋動物 比較會得到注意力, 比如鯨魚和珊瑚礁, 很容易就會忘記其他海洋生命 也需要我們的協助。 我對巨蚌的著迷, 讓我開始進行保育研究, 補起關於牠們的生態 與行為的知識缺口。 我們的發現之一是巨蚌 會在海底行走。 是的,你們沒聽錯: 牠們會行走。
To find out, we placed numerous baby clams on a grid. Now watch what happens over 24 hours. We think that walking is important for getting away from predators and finding mates for breeding. While it can hard to imagine any movement in these enormous animals, giant clams up to 400 pounds can still walk, they just move slower.
為了求證, 我們把數隻幼蚌放在格子上。 看看二十四小時後發生了什麼事。 我們認為行走的重要性 是為了遠離獵食者, 以及找尋交配對象, 雖然很難想像 這些巨大的動物會移動, 重達 400 磅的巨蚌仍可以行走, 只是移動得比較慢些。
During my PhD, I discovered more secrets about the giant clams. But there was something missing in my work. I found myself asking, "Why should people care about conserving giant clams?" -- other than myself, of course.
在我讀博士班時,我發現了 更多關於巨蚌的秘密。 但,我的研究中少了什麼。 我發現自己納悶: 「為什麼人們要在乎巨蚌的保育?」 當然,是指我以外的人。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
It turns out that giant clams have a giant impact on coral reefs. These multitasking clams are reef builders, food factories, shelters for shrimps and crabs and water filters, all rolled into one. In a nutshell, giant clams play a major contributing role as residents of their own reef home, and just having them around keeps the reef healthy. And because they can live up to 100 years old, giant clams make vital indicators of coral reef health. So when giant clams start to disappear from coral reefs, their absence can serve as an alarm bell for scientists to start paying attention, similar to the canary in a coal mine. But giant clams are endangered. The largest clam in the world is facing the threat of extinction, with more than 50 percent of the wild population severely depleted. And the ecological benefits of having giant clams on coral reefs are likely to continue only if populations are healthy, making their conservation paramount.
結果發現,巨蚌對於 珊瑚礁的影響很巨大。 這些蚌蛤是多工的, 牠們是珊瑚礁建造者、 食物工廠、 蝦子和螃蟹的庇護所、 以及濾水器, 多種功能合一。 概括來說, 巨蚌對牠們自己住的珊瑚礁 扮演著重要貢獻的角色, 光是有牠們在那裡, 就能保持珊瑚礁健康。 因為巨蚌能活到一百歲, 牠們是珊瑚礁的重要健康指標。 當珊瑚礁中的巨蚌開始消失, 牠們的失蹤可被當作是警鈴, 要科學家開始多留意, 類似煤礦中的金絲雀。 但巨蚌已瀕臨絕種。 世界上最大的蚌蛤 正在面臨絕種的威脅, 野生巨蚌族群有 超過 50% 在嚴重減少中。 只有在這個族群 能保持健康的情況下, 巨蚌在珊瑚礁中產生的 生態益處才可能持續, 因此牠們的保育非常重要。
So I stand here today to give a voice to the giant clams, because I care a whole lot for these amazing animals, and they deserve to be cared for. It is time for the giant clams to step out of their shells, and show the world that they, too, can be the heroes of the oceans.
所以今天我在這裡,為巨蚌發聲, 因為我非常關心 這些不可思議的動物, 牠們應該要被好好照顧。 該是巨蚌走出蚌殼的時候了, 讓世界知道,牠們也可以 扮演海洋的英雄。
Thank you very much.
非常謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)