2亿年前化石中发现的古代“鱿鱼袭击”

2亿年前化石中发现的古代“鱿鱼袭击”

At one time, a bizarre squid-like creature had arms covered in hooks that enabled it to attack and completely crush the skull of its prey, according to researchers.

据研究人员称，曾经，世界上有一种奇异的、手臂上覆盖着钩子的、能够攻击并完全粉碎猎物头骨的鱿鱼状生物。

A 200-million-year-old fossil depicting the violent attack was found at the Dorset and East Devon Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage site on the southern coast of New England.

在位于新英格兰南部海岸的联合国教科文组织世界遗产地多塞特和东德文海岸，发现了一块2亿年前的化石，描绘了这次暴力袭击。

Malcolm Hart, emeritus professor of micropaleontology at the University of Plymouth in England and the study’s lead researcher, explained that the attack was horrific.

英国普利茅斯大学微体古生物学名誉教授、该研究的首席研究员马尔科姆·哈特解释说，这次袭击非常可怕。

“The head [of the fish] has been bitten through; the bones have got sharp edges where they’ve literally been crushed and broken,” Hart told Live Science. “So this thing probably attacked the fish quite violently — the bones in the head of the fish are just literally smashed.”

哈特告诉《生活科学》杂志：“鱼头被咬穿了，骨头的边缘很锋利，事实上他们被压碎了。”。“所以这东西很可能猛烈地攻击了这条鱼——鱼头上的骨头被彻底打碎了。”

The study was presented for publication in the journal Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.

这项研究发表在《地质学家协会学报》上。

Hart was able to examine the fossil when it was on exhibit last year at the Lyme Regis Museum in England.

哈特去年在英国莱姆雷吉斯博物馆展出这具化石时，曾对其进行过检查。

His photographs magnify the details of the predator, an extinct squid relative known as a belemnoid, which had hardened hooks covering its 10 arms — like something out of a horror movie.

他的照片让我们得以看到捕食者的真实面目，一种已灭绝的鱿鱼近亲，称之为贝伦诺德(belemnoid)，它的10只手臂上有坚硬的钩子，就像恐怖电影里的一样。

Most modern squids have eight “regular” arms and two elongated ones, said Michael Vecchione, an invertebrate zoologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the study.

华盛顿特区史密森国家自然历史博物馆(Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)的无脊椎动物动物学家迈克尔·维奇奥尼(Michael Vecchione)表示，大多数现代鱿鱼都有8条“规则”的手臂和2条加长手臂，他没有参与这项研究。

“In some squids, those suckers develop into hooks,” Vecchione told Live Science. “But they’re not like the hooks that are in the belemnoids. They probably function very similarly — they’re used to grab hold of soft things that you can’t grab hold of with a sucker.”

“在有些鱿鱼中，这些吸盘会发展成鱼钩，”维奇奥尼告诉《生活科学》。“但不是像贝伦诺德那样的钩子。它们的功能与吸盘很相似——只是用来抓住那些用吸盘抓不住的软东西。”