By Ben Turner
The ocean giants have evolved to digest seaweed rather than spit it back out.
海洋巨大物已演化消化海藻，而不是把它吐出。
1. (Rhincodon typus)嘴行食。 (援用自原文)
Whale sharks are the biggest shark species in the world, and now scientists have found that the giant sharks are even more prodigious eating machines than previously thought.
是世界上最大的物，而且目前科家已，此些巨大是比先前被之更人的食器。
In addition to gulping down enormous mouthfuls of krill — tiny shrimplike crustaceans — whale sharks also swallow huge helpings of seaweed, enabling the aquatic giants to officially dethrone Kodiak bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi) as the world's largest omnivores.
除了吞下大口磷(小甲物)，也吞下大量海藻，使此些水生的巨大物，正式取代美阿拉斯加西南部，科迪克群上的科迪克熊(Ursus arctos middendorffi)，成世界上最大的食性物。
Researchers made the discovery by analyzing whale shark (Rhincodon typus) skin samples collected near Western Australia's Ningaloo reef. These gargantuan sharks are the largest fish in the sea, weighing up to 40 tons (36 metric tons) and growing to about 40 feet (12 meters) long on average, according to the National Ocean Service.
藉由分析，於西澳大利格珊瑚礁附近，集的(Rhincodon typus)皮本，研究人得了此。根美家海洋局的法，此些巨大的是海中最大，重40(36公)，平均40英尺(12米)。
Until now, scientists thought that the gentle giants were primarily filter feeders, gaping their cavernous mouths wide to gulp in roughly 21,200 cubic feet (600 cubic meters) of water every hour. Then, by straining the water out through their gills, the sharks are left with mouthfuls of plankton, shrimp, tiny fish and crustaceans to swallow down.
迄今，科家，此些和的巨大物主要是食者，其多孔的大嘴，每小吞下大21,200立方英尺(600立方米)的水。然後，藉由其掉水，而留下口、可吞下的浮游生物、、小及甲物。
But the new discovery, published July 19 in the journal Ecology, has given scientists important new information to chew on.
不，於2022年7月19日，表於美生《生》期刊的新，已科家提供了，行深思的重要新息。
"This causes us to rethink everything we thought we knew about what whale sharks eat" and calls into question other aspects of the sharks' behavior "out in the open ocean," lead study author Mark Meekan, a fish biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Queensland, said in a statement.
在一份明中，首要研究撰文人、澳大利海洋科研究所(位於昆士州)的生物家，Mark Meekan宣：「致我重新思考，我知道之有吃什的一切，及此在海洋中之行的其他方面，提出疑。」
Meekan said that the discovery contradicts the common assumption that large land creatures are typically herbivores, but those that live in the sea occupy a different niche on the food chain, feeding on small shrimp and fish.
Meekan表示，此大型地生物通常是草食性物，而那些生存於海中，在食物上不同生之大型物，以小及食的常假相矛盾。
"Turns out that maybe the system of evolution on land and in the water isn't that different after all," Meekan said.
Meekan宣：「果，於地上及在水中，演化的方式或究非那不同。」
For their study, the scientists collected the sharks' possible food sources — ranging from tiny crustaceans and plankton to large clumps of seaweed — and then chemically analyzed the samples to reveal their amino and fatty acids.
了他的研究，此些科家收集了，的可能食物源(微小的甲物及浮游生物到大的海藻)。之後，本行化分析，以揭露它的氨基酸及脂肪酸。
After cross-referencing these acids with those found in skin samples taken from whale sharks, the researchers identified high concentrations of sargassum — a type of brown seaweed made up of thousands of microscopic algae — in the sharks' diets.
在取自皮之本中，的那些酸上述的酸行交叉考後，此些研究人在的食中，了高度的尾藻(一由千微藻成的棕色海藻)。
The scientists think this omnivorous diet could be a result of the sharks evolving to digest accidentally swallowed seaweed, saving them the energy cost of spitting it back out.
此些科家，此食性食可能是，演化消化意外吞下之海藻的一果，而省它其吐出的能量成本。
"We think that over evolutionary time, whale sharks have evolved the ability to digest some of this sargassum that's going into their guts," Meekan said. "So, the vision we have of whale sharks coming to Ningaloo just to feast on these little krill is only half the story. They're actually out there eating a fair amount of algae too."
Meekan宣：「我，著演化的推移，已演化出，消化一些入其消化器官之尾藻的能力。因此，我有到格珊瑚礁，了一此些小磷之口福的看法，只是此情的一半。上，它在那也食相量的藻。」
Having a broader range of food sources might sound like good news for whale sharks, as it could help them withstand potential upheavals to their marine ecosystems brought about by climate change. But the scientists said it's more complicated than that.
而言，有泛的食物源，可能起好像是好消息。因，可能有助於它得起，因候其海洋生系的在。不，此些科家表示，它比那更。
It’s possible that the sharks' propensity for swallowing most of what is swept into their mouths could make them far more likely to swallow copious amounts of ocean-borne plastics, according to the study.
根研究的法，吞下大部分被其嘴之西的向，可能使它更有可能吞下大量海洋散布的塑。
"Whale sharks can pass some plastics through the gut, but ingesting small or large plastic pieces could cause the sharks to vomit up their meals, and could reduce their gut capacity and interfere with digestion. " the researchers wrote.
此些研究人述：「能使一些塑通道。不，入小或大的塑片可能致，吐出其食物，且可能降低其道容量干消化。」
址：https://www.livescience.com/whale-sharks-largest-omnivores
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