Nomadic jellyfish and poisonous puffer fish are the poster children of an invasion of non-native species into the Mediterranean, with environmental and economic costs. Christopher Intagliata reports.

据克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata）报道，地中海水母和河豚是外来物种入侵地中海的代表动物，外来物种入侵造成了环境和经济的双重损失。

播音\撰文：克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔（Christopher Intagliata）

翻译：杨枭

审校：丁可含

The Mediterranean Sea is home to some 17,000 native species. But it's also home to a growing number of non-native species: 756 at last count. 756 may not sound like a lot, compared to 17,000.

地中海是大约17,000个本地物种的家园。与此同时，外来物种也呈增长趋势。据最近一次统计，地中海外来物种共有756种，与本地物种相比并不算多。

"But this is not arithmetic." Bella Galil, a naturalist at Israel National Center for Biodiversity Studies in Tel Aviv. "Those invasive species have a large population, and they rend apart the native food web. They disturb an already stressed community."

“但这不是算术。”贝拉·贾利勒（Bella Galil）说，她是以色列特拉维夫国家生物多样性研究中心的博物学家。“这些入侵物种为数众多，它们破坏了原生食物网，扰乱了一个已经负重的生物群落。”

The invaders she's talking about are central casting for an underwater horror movie. Take the nomadic jellyfish, in huge swarms 60 miles long, which sent hundreds of people to Turkish hospitals a few summers back. Or a type of pufferfish, extremely poisonous, that occasionally gets fished out, and lands at fish markets by mistake.

她所说的入侵者成为了水下恐怖电影的主角。以漂泊的水母为例，60英里长的水母群，在过去几个夏天将几百人送进了土耳其的医院。而一种有剧毒的河豚，有时会被捕捞上来错误地送进了鱼类市场。

Galil says these bad guys, and many others, have invaded the Mediterranean through the ever-widening Suez Canal. As the canal grows, so do the number of non-native species. And it's a dilemma that's not easily addressed. "It's a Humpty-Dumpty sort of problem. Once it's broke it's broke. We cannot re-engineer it. It's too complex for us." Galil and her team outline the scope of the problem in the journal Management of Biological Invasions. [Bella Galil et al., The enlargement of the Suez Canal—Erythraean introductions and management challenges]

贾利勒说这些坏家伙和许多其它入侵物种通过不断变宽的苏伊士运河侵入地中海。随着运河的拓宽，非本地物种的数量也随之增加。这是一个很棘手的问题。“物种入侵是不可逆的过程，它太复杂了，一旦生态破坏开始便无法修复。”贾利勒和她的团队在“生物入侵管理”杂志上概述了这个问题。

Installing locks or salinity barriers could help block future invasions, she says—those methods have worked in other canals. But that's an engineering and governance issue. "As biologists we've raised our voices. The community is aware of it. The problem is to go beyond this. And to go beyond this we need to go into the regional bureaucracy and the industry." It'll undoubtedly cost money, too. One motivating factor for taking action: Mediterranean beaches are big business. And swarms of jellyfish can quickly drive away the customers.

贾利勒表示，安装水闸或盐度障碍可以帮助阻隔物种入侵，其他一些运河已经这么做了。但那是一个工程治理的话题。“作为生物学家我们已经表达了我们的担忧，当地人也知道这个问题。但关键是如何解决问题，为此我们需要深入区域机构和相关行业。”无疑这会耗资巨大。但采取行动有一大动力——地中海海滩是个大生意，而一大群水母会迅速赶跑游客。