Emily Chung · CBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2021 2:42 PM ET | Last Updated: December 2
SOS Dolfijn releases video of 10-metre-long whale, similar to the one in famous 19th-century novel
SOS Dolfijn發佈了，類似19世紀著名小說中，10米長的鯨魚視頻影帶。
A sperm whale with the same rare colouring as the fictional Moby Dick has been spotted off the coast of Jamaica.
一隻具有與虛構之白鯨記一樣罕見色調的抹香鯨，在牙買加海岸外已經被發現。
A video of the white whale was posted on Facebook Tuesday by SOS Dolfijn, a rescue organization for stranded whales and dolphins based in the Netherlands. The distant, blurry video shows some of the whale's white skin and vapour spouting from the whale's blowhole as it surfaces.
於2021年11月30日，總部位於荷蘭之擱淺鯨魚及海豚的救援組織，SOS Dolfijn在臉書上公佈了，此白鯨的視頻影帶。該遙遠、模糊的視頻影帶顯示了，此鯨魚一些白色皮膚及浮出水面時，從噴氣孔噴出的蒸汽。
(請參閱原文中的短片)
SOS Dolfijn said the animal was about 10 metres long and identified it as a sperm whale — the same species as Moby Dick, the famed white whale from American writer Herman Melville's 19th century novel.
SOS Dolfijn表示，此動物長大約10米，且確認它與來自19世紀，美國作家Herman Melville著名小說，白鯨白鯨記中，屬相同物種的抹香鯨。
Shane Gero, a scientist in residence at Carleton University and founder of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project, who has seen the video, confirmed it's "definitely a sperm whale."
駐在任所之加拿大卡爾頓大學的科學家，兼多米尼加抹香鯨計劃創始人，已經看過此視頻影帶的Shane Gero，證實牠"絕對是一隻抹香鯨"。
SOS Dolfijn said the video had been sent to them by an employee, Annemarie van den Berg. She had received it from her husband, Leo van Toly, the captain of a merchant ship, who had spotted the whale Monday while sailing along the coast of Jamaica, reported Dutch media network RTL Nieuws.
SOS Dolfijn表示，此視頻影帶已經由一名雇員，Annemarie van den Berg遞送給他們。荷蘭媒體網絡RTL Nieuws報導，她是從丈夫，Leo van Toly收到此影帶。他是一艘商船的船長，週一在沿著牙買加海岸航行時，發現了此鯨魚。
Gero called the sighting of a white sperm whale a rare event. "It's awesome," he said. "Obviously, it's exciting."
Gero認為，看見一隻白色抹香鯨是件罕見的事情。他宣稱：「這是令人嘆為觀止的。顯然，這是令人興奮的。」
圖1. 抹香鯨通常是棕色或灰色 (圖援用自原文)
In recent years, an adult white sperm whale has been photographed off the Azores, as well as a calf off Dominica.
近年來，除了在多米尼加外海的一隻小鯨之外，在亞速爾群島外海，也曾拍攝到一隻成年白抹香鯨。
The one seen off Jamaica was about the size of an adult female in the Caribbean, Gero said, although it wasn't known whether the whale spotted was male or female. Males grow much larger, up to 18 metres long.
Gero表示，在牙買加外海被看到的抹香鯨，大約是在加勒比海之成年䧳抹香鯨的大小。雖然，不知道該被發現的鯨魚是雄性或雌性。不過，雄性長得更大，長達18米。
If it is female, it's unlikely to be the same calf seen in Dominica, as female whales live in multi-generational families that don't travel very far within the region, said Gero, who studies the whales' culture, family lives and communication.
研究鯨魚之社會型態，家庭生活及溝通方式的Gero表示，倘若是雌性，則不太可能是在多米尼加被看見的相同小抹香鯨。因為，雌性鯨魚生活於，不會在此區域(加勒比海)內，很遠處活動的多代家庭中。
Males range farther; male sperm whales spotted in Canada may have come from the Caribbean. There hasn't been a lot of research on sperm whales off Jamaica, Gero said, but he's quite interested in doing some.
雄性分佈更遠，在加拿大被發現的雄性抹香鯨，可能來自加勒比海。Gero表示，未曾有大量針對牙買加外海之抹香鯨的研究。不過，他很感興趣於進行一些研究。
The excitement over the recent sighting and the references to Moby Dick are a reminder of how important whales were to society, he said, particularly in providing fuel in the form of whale oil before fossil fuels existed.
他表示，對於最近所目擊到的興奮且提及白鯨記，是鯨魚對生物社會有多重要的一種暗示。特別是，在化石燃料出現之前，以鯨油的形式提供燃料。
Moby Dick is a book about that whaling industry, where the character Captain Ahab is obsessed with getting revenge on the highly recognizable whale that bit off one of his legs from the knee down.
白鯨記是一本有關捕鯨業的書，其中亞哈船長的角色是，著迷於報復那隻，咬掉其膝蓋以下一條腿之高度可辨識的鯨魚。
"It's been a cultural icon, in at least the English-speaking world, for a long, long time," Gero said.
Gero宣稱：「很長一段時間以來，至少在說英語的世界，這一直是一個文化象徵。」
Sperm whales are found throughout the world's oceans and in the Mediterranean Sea. Before commercial whaling, there were about 1.1 million in the world, but the current population is only about 360,000, according to the Dominica Sperm Whale Project.
根據多米尼加抹香鯨計劃的說法，抹香鯨在遍及世界諸海洋及地中海被發現。在商業捕鯨之前，全世界大約有110萬隻。不過，目前種群數大約僅36萬隻。
網址：https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/white-sperm-whale-1.6269833?cmp=rss
翻譯：許東榮
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