日本冲绳的热带水域发现短尾乌贼新物种

Bobtail squid, the mysterious and googly-eyed cousins of cuttlefish, have a new member in their gang. Don't be fooled by these cephalopods' dashingly cute looks, they've also got the brains to match.

短尾乌贼是墨鱼的近亲，有着神秘而又神秘的眼睛。不要被这些头足类动物可爱的外表所迷惑，它们也有与之相配的大脑。

The new species of bobtail squid was recently discovered in the tropical waters of Okinawa in Japan, as described in the journal Communications Biology.

正如《通讯生物学》(Communications Biology)杂志所描述的那样，这一新物种的短尾乌贼最近在日本冲绳的热带水域被发现。

The species has been named Euprymna brenneri in honor of the late Dr Sydney Brenner, one of the founders of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), whose lab team helped to identify the animal.

这一物种被命名为Euprymna brenneri，以纪念已故的Sydney Brenner博士。Sydney Brenner博士是冲绳县理工学院研究生院(OIST)的创始人之一，他的实验室团队帮助识别了这种动物。

Dr Brenner was best known as a molecular geneticist whose research into a tiny nematode worm led to critical insights into genetics and human disease, however, Brenner was also a huge fan of cephalopods – and who could blame him? He was also a friend and mentor to many members of the team that made this new discovery.

布伦纳博士最著名的身份是分子遗传学家，他对一种微小的线虫的研究为遗传学和人类疾病的研究带来了重要的见解。他也是发现这个新发现的团队中许多成员的朋友和导师。

“While Sydney Brenner was not involved directly in the discovery of this new species, he was an enthusiastic advocate for research in Okinawa and our group, and a big fan of cephalopods as ‘the first intelligent animals on the planet,’” Daniel Rokhsar, head of the Molecular Genetics Unit at OIST, told IFLScience.

Sydney Brenner“虽然没有直接参与这个新物种的发现,他是一个热心提倡研究在冲绳和我们的团队,和一个大风扇的头足类动物的地球上第一个聪明的动物,”丹尼尔?Rokhsar OIST分子遗传学部门主管告诉IFLScience。

“Brenner initiated the first cephalopod genome-sequencing project, the California two-spot octopus, which we published together in 2015, and he was always fascinated by these animals and their distinctively organized yet comparably complex nervous system compared with our own vertebrate structure.”

“布伦纳发起了第一个头足类基因组测序项目，即我们在2015年共同发表的加州双斑章鱼，他一直对这些动物以及它们独特的组织方式以及与我们自己的脊椎动物结构相比相当复杂的神经系统着迷。”

Bobtails have many features that differentiate them from true squid and are actually more closely related to other kinds of cephalopods, such as cuttlefish. They are typically pretty small – between just 1 and 8 centimeters (0.4 and 3 inches) – and this one is no different, measuring in at just a few centimeters long.

短尾有许多特征使它区别于真正的乌贼，实际上它与其他种类的头足类动物，如墨鱼，关系更密切。它们通常都很小——只有1到8厘米(0.4到3英寸)——这只也没有什么不同，只有几厘米长。

As the new study touches on, this new species of bobtail squid also has an intriguing relationship with luminescent bacteria. The new research shows that the bobtail has a pouch-like organ on its underside that’s filled with Vibrio fischeri bacteria. As nocturnal beings, the bobtails utilize the glow to camouflage themselves and stealthily hunt prey.

正如这项新研究所触及的，这种新物种的短尾乌贼也与发光细菌有着有趣的关系。新的研究表明，短尾鱼的底部有一个类似于袋子的器官，里面充满了菲氏弧菌。作为夜行动物，短尾鱼利用发光来伪装自己，并悄悄地捕食猎物。

More bobtail squid mysteries remain, however. The researchers started their study by looking for bobtail squid eggs around the coast of Okinawa, resulting in the discovery of two adults and three different types of eggs. To match them, they allowed the eggs to hatch and compared DNA sequences of hatchlings, eventually resulting in the identification of E. brenneri.

然而，更多的短尾乌贼之谜仍然存在。研究人员首先在冲绳海岸附近寻找短尾乌贼卵，结果发现了两种成年乌贼卵和三种不同类型的乌贼卵。为了匹配它们，他们让这些卵孵化，并比较孵化出的小海龟的DNA序列，最终确定了E. brenneri。

However, the third egg type remains unaccounted for as they were unable to raise its hatchlings to maturity.

然而，第三种类型的蛋仍然没有解释，因为他们无法把它的孵化到成熟。