英语科普：鱼的耳石中暗含洄游信息

Scientists at the University of Southampton have found a way to pry1 into the private lives of fish - by looking in their ears. By studying ear stones in fish, which act as tiny data recorders, scientists can now reveal migration2 patterns and even provide
insights into their sex life.
Managing fish stocks in a sustainable way is a major challenge facing scientists, conservationists, policy makers3 and fishermen. To get the best results, accurate information about the movements of fish in the wild is needed but gathering4 this information is extremely difficult.
Tiny ear stones called 'otoliths', which are in all bony fish, store chemical elements picked up from the surrounding water. As fish migrate, changes in the ambient water chemistry are recorded in the otoliths, but it is difficult to translate these signals into records of fish movements.
Now researchers have effectively created a translation dictionary -revealing what the different chemical elements stored in the chemical makeup5 of the stones can tell us about the environments fish have travelled through.
The research, conducted at the University of Southampton and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) in Lowestoft, involved raising plaice in an aquarium6 for one year while measuring the chemistry of the water and the fishes' blood. At the end of the experiment, they compared the water, blood and otolith chemistry to better understand how elements become integrated into the growing otolith.
"These otoliths can now be used like the Rosetta Stone - allowing us to read the story of fish migrations7 from the chemistry of their ears," says Clive Trueman, co-author of the study and Associate Professor in Marine8 Ecology at the University of Southampton. "We also found that sex can interfere9 with the chemical signals. This complicates10 the job of translation, but provides us with new information about the biology, and private lives, of fish at sea."
The new insights, which have been published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution, can now be used to better understand movements of fishes throughout the world's oceans and will help in science-based conservation and sustainable fisheries.
词汇解析：
1 pry
vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起)
参考例句：
He's always ready to pry into other people's business.他总爱探听别人的事。

We use an iron bar to pry open the box.我们用铁棍撬开箱子。

2 migration
n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙
参考例句：
Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。

He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

3 makers
n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）
参考例句：
The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这
一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。

The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。

来自《简明英汉词典》
4 gathering
n.集会，聚会，聚集
参考例句：
He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。

He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 makeup
n.组织；性格；化装品
参考例句：
Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。

Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？
6 aquarium
n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸
参考例句：
The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。

I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

7 migrations
n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )
参考例句：
It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。

来自辞典例句
Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。

来自互联网
8 marine
adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵
参考例句：
Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。

When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

9 interfere
v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰
参考例句：
If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。

When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 complicates
使复杂化( complicate的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
What complicates the issue is the burden of history. 历史的重负使问题复杂化了。

Russia as a great and ambitious power gravely complicates the situation. 俄国作为一个强大而有野心的国家，使得局势异常复杂。

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