这些倒置的水母会用充满毒液的“鼻涕弹”蜇你

这些倒置的水母会用充满毒液的“鼻涕弹”蜇你

Upside-down jellyfish on the ocean floor release venom-filled blobs of mucus, which can sting nearby swimmers, new research reveals.

一项新的研究显示，在海底倒立的水母会释放出充满毒液的黏液团，这些黏液团会刺痛附近的游泳者。

The jellyfish, formally known as Cassiopea xamachana, have a weird, plant-like appearance and they typically are stuck to the ocean’s floor.

这种水母的正式名称是Cassiopea xamachana，它有着怪异的植物状外观，通常会粘在海底。

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, these jellyfish are typically found living in the mangrove forests and lagoons of southern Florida, Hawaii, the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean.

据蒙特利湾水族馆介绍，这些水母通常生活在佛罗里达南部、夏威夷、印度-太平洋和加勒比海的红树林和泻湖中。

When snorkelers are in those areas, they sometimes develop a strange itching sensation.

当浮潜者到达这些区域时，他们有时会产生一种奇怪的瘙痒感。

“You start to feel this tingling … More than just itchiness, like when an itch turns into a painful discomfort,” Cheryl Ames, a museum research associate and an associate professor of applied marine biology at Tohoku University in Japan, explained to Live Science.

“你开始感到这种刺痛感……不仅仅是发痒，就像瘙痒变成了痛苦的不适，”日本东北大学(Tohoku University)博物馆助理研究员、应用海洋生物学副教授谢丽尔·埃姆斯(Cheryl Ames)在接受《生活科学》(Live Science)采访时解释道。

Ames and her colleagues believe they have figured out why this happens; their work was published today in the journal Communications Biology.

艾姆斯和她的同事们相信他们已经找到了原因，他们的研究成果今天发表在《通讯生物学》杂志上。

The jellyfish deploy cellular bombs armed with stinging cells called nematocytes, according to their study. Those bombs release a skin-irritating venom when they make contact with a passing swimmer.

根据他们的研究，这种水母部署了带有称为“线虫细胞”的带刺细胞的细胞炸弹。这些炸弹在与路过的游泳者接触时会释放出刺激皮肤的毒液。

As for how to avoid being stung, researchers are still investigating whether the jellies release the venom more at certain times of the day or in response to certain types of disturbances.

至于如何避免被蜇，研究人员仍在研究水母是在一天中的特定时间释放更多的毒液，还是对特定类型的干扰做出反应。