2億年前化石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的古代“魷魚襲擊”

2億年前化石中發(fā)現(xiàn)的古代“魷魚襲擊”

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.

據(jù)研究人員稱，曾經(jīng)，世界上有一種奇異的、手臂上覆蓋著鉤子的、能夠攻擊并完全粉碎獵物頭骨的魷魚狀生物。

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.

在位于新英格蘭南部海岸的聯(lián)合國教科文組織世界遺產(chǎn)地多塞特和東德文海岸，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一塊2億年前的化石，描繪了這次暴力襲擊。

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.

英國普利茅斯大學(xué)微體古生物學(xué)名譽(yù)教授、該研究的首席研究員馬爾科姆·哈特解釋說，這次襲擊非常可怕。

“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.”

哈特告訴《生活科學(xué)》雜志：“魚頭被咬穿了，骨頭的邊緣很鋒利，事實(shí)上他們被壓碎了。”。“所以這東西很可能猛烈地攻擊了這條魚——魚頭上的骨頭被徹底打碎了。”

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

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在《地質(zhì)學(xué)家協(xié)會學(xué)報(bào)》上。

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

哈特去年在英國萊姆雷吉斯博物館展出這具化石時(shí)，曾對其進(jìn)行過檢查。

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.

他的照片讓我們得以看到捕食者的真實(shí)面目，一種已滅絕的魷魚近親，稱之為貝倫諾德(belemnoid)，它的10只手臂上有堅(jiān)硬的鉤子，就像恐怖電影里的一樣。

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.

華盛頓特區(qū)史密森國家自然歷史博物館(Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)的無脊椎動物動物學(xué)家邁克爾·維奇奧尼(Michael Vecchione)表示，大多數(shù)現(xiàn)代魷魚都有8條“規(guī)則”的手臂和2條加長手臂，他沒有參與這項(xiàng)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.”

“在有些魷魚中，這些吸盤會發(fā)展成魚鉤，”維奇奧尼告訴《生活科學(xué)》。“但不是像貝倫諾德那樣的鉤子。它們的功能與吸盤很相似——只是用來抓住那些用吸盤抓不住的軟東西。”