ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prosanta Chakrabarty - Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Why you should listen

Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Science at Louisiana State University.

Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. His natural history collecting efforts include trips to Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Madagascar, Panama, Kuwait and many other countries. He has discovered over a dozen new species including new anglerfishes and cavefishes.

The LSU Museum of Natural Science fish collection that Chakrabarty oversees includes nearly half a million fish specimens and nearly 10,000 DNA samples covering most major groups of fishes. He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree is from McGill University in Montreal. He has written two books including A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job. He is also a former Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016 and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018.

More profile about the speaker
Prosanta Chakrabarty | Speaker | TED.com
TED2016

Prosanta Chakrabarty: Clues to prehistoric times, found in blind cavefish

Prosanta Chakrabarty: 没有眼睛的洞穴鱼告诉你史前的秘密

Filmed:
1,220,884 views

TED Fellow Prosanta Chakrabarty 喜欢探索世界的未知, 寻找生活在洞穴中的鱼类新物种. 这些生活在地下的生物为了适应生存环境做出的奇妙的进化, 不仅让我们对于人类视觉的原理有了进一步的认识, 对于上亿年前的地球大陆漂移历史也提供了准确的时间标记. 演讲虽短, 内容深刻.
- Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Ichthyology鱼类学,
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鱼类学(Ichthyology)
00:14
the study研究 of fishes鱼类.
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是研究鱼类的学科。
00:16
It looks容貌 like a big, boring无聊 word,
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这个词看着很无聊,
00:18
but it's actually其实 quite相当 exciting扣人心弦,
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其实不然,
00:21
because ichthyology鱼类 is the only "ology易学"
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这个词是唯一个学科名里
00:24
with "YOLOYOLO" in it.
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带有"YOLO"短语的。
00:25
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
00:27
Now, to the cool kids孩子 in the audience听众,
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对于台下很时髦的年轻人来说,
00:29
you already已经 know, YOLOYOLO stands站立 for
"you only live生活 once一旦,"
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你们已经知道"YOLO"这个缩写
代表着"你的人生只有一次",
00:33
and because I only have one life,
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因为人生不能重来,
00:35
I'm going to spend it doing
what I always dreamt梦见 of doing:
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我希望去做我真正梦想的事情:
00:37
seeing眼看 the hidden wonders奇迹 of the world世界
and discovering发现 new species种类.
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去探索世界的未知,
去发现新的物种。
00:41
And that's what I get to do.
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我说到做到了。
00:42
Now, in recent最近 years年份, I really focused重点
on caves洞穴 for finding发现 new species种类.
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最近这几年我的研究重点放在了
洞穴鱼类新物种的发现上。
00:47
And it turns out, there's lots of new
cavefishcavefish species种类 out there.
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我们发现洞穴里有很多的新物种。
00:50
You just have to know where to look,
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你只需要知道去哪里找就行了,
00:52
and to maybe be a little thin.
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可能还要身材苗条一点。
00:54
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
00:55
Now, cavefishescavefishes can tell me
a lot about biology生物学 and geology地质学.
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研究洞穴鱼类能够获得许多
生物学和地理学的发现。
01:00
They can tell me how the landmasses陆地
around them have changed and moved移动
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它们虽然只是蜷缩在小小洞穴里,
却能够告诉我们世界的大格局,
01:04
by being存在 stuck卡住 in these little holes,
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告诉我们大陆如何漂移和变化,
01:06
and they can tell me about
the evolution演化 of sight视力, by being存在 blind.
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它们没有眼睛, 却让我们看到
眼睛的进化过程。
01:11
Now, fish have eyes眼睛
that are essentially实质上 the same相同 as ours我们的.
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一般而言鱼类都有眼睛, 跟我们一样。
01:14
All vertebrates脊椎动物 do, and each time
a fish species种类 starts启动 to adapt适应
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所有的脊椎动物本来都有眼睛,
但是当生存环境变了,
01:18
to this dark黑暗, cold, cave洞穴 environment环境,
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如果一种鱼要适应阴冷的洞穴环境,
01:20
over many许多, many许多 generations,
they lose失去 their eyes眼睛 and their eyesight眼力
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经过一代又一代的演化,
这些鱼的视力逐渐退化,
01:24
until直到 the end结束 up like an eyeless盲目的
cavefishcavefish like this one here.
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现在的洞穴鱼类已经没有眼睛了。
01:27
Now, each cavefishcavefish species种类
has evolved进化 in a slightly different不同 way,
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每种洞穴鱼类的进化路线略有不同,
01:31
and each one has a unique独特 geological地质
and biological生物 story故事 to tell us,
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每种鱼类都可以向我们讲述一段特别的地质和生物的故事,
01:35
and that's why it's so exciting扣人心弦
when we find a new species种类.
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这是我们在发现新物种的时候
激动不已的原因。
01:39
So this is a new species种类
we described描述, from southern南部的 Indiana印地安那.
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这是我们从印第安纳南部发现的新物种。
01:43
We named命名 it AmblyopsisAmblyopsis hoosierihoosieri,
the Hoosier印第安纳州 cavefishcavefish.
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我们叫它" Amblyopsis hoosieri",
就是印第安纳洞穴鱼的意思。
01:46
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
01:48
Its closest最近的 relatives亲戚们
are cavefishescavefishes in Kentucky肯塔基,
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它的近亲是肯塔基州的一种洞穴鱼,
01:51
in the Mammoth长毛象 Cave洞穴 system系统.
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生活在猛犸洞穴系统中。
01:52
And they start开始 to diverge偏离
when the Ohio俄亥俄州 River split分裂 them
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他们因俄亥俄河的出现被分隔开,
01:55
a few少数 million百万 years年份 ago.
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已经分开了有几百年了.
01:57
And in that time they developed发达
these subtle微妙 differences分歧
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从那时起它们的进化路线就不同了
02:00
in the genetic遗传 architecture建筑
behind背后 their blindness失明.
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各自在基因结构上演化,
视力各自退化了.
02:03
There's this gene基因 called rhodopsin视紫红质
that's super-critical超临界 for sight视力.
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有一种名叫"视紫红质"的基因,
对视力的形成起到关键作用,
02:06
We have it, and these species种类 have it too,
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人类和这些鱼类都有同样的基因,
02:09
except one species种类 has lost丢失
all function功能 in that gene基因,
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但是有种洞穴鱼在进化中
完全丢掉了这个基因,
02:12
and the other one maintains维持 it.
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而其它的洞穴鱼类还保留着.
02:14
So this sets up this beautiful美丽
natural自然 experiment实验
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大自然为我们做了完美的实验
02:18
where we can look at the genes基因
behind背后 our vision视力,
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让我们能够从基因角度
学习我们视觉的原理,
02:21
and at the very roots of how we can see.
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能够知道视觉感知的最根本原因.
02:25
But the genes基因 in these cavefishescavefishes
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而且这些洞穴鱼类的基因
02:26
can also tell us
about deep geological地质 time,
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能够向我们讲述
地理环境的变化,
02:29
maybe no more so
than in this species种类 here.
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可能没有谁比它们更能展示这种变化了.
02:32
This is a new species种类
we described描述 from Madagascar马达加斯加
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这是我们在马达加斯加
发现的新物种
02:34
that we named命名 TyphleotrisTyphleotris mararybemararybe.
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取名为"Typhleotris mararybe".
02:38
That means手段 "big sickness疾病" in Malagasy马尔加什,
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在马达加斯加语中是"大病"的意思,
02:41
for how sick生病 we got trying
to collect搜集 this species种类.
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你们不知道为了找这个物种
我们吃了多少苦头.
02:44
Now, believe it or not,
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不管你信不信,
02:46
swimming游泳的 around sinkholes落水洞
full充分 of dead things
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在污水坑里游泳, 周围都是动物尸体
02:48
and cave洞穴 full充分 of bat蝙蝠 poop船尾
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在满是蝙蝠粪便的洞穴里翻找
02:50
isn't the smartest最聪明的 thing you could
be doing with your life,
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肯定不是你生命中
做的最明智的选择,
02:53
but YOLOYOLO.
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但是, YOLO!
02:55
(Laughter笑声)
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(笑声)
02:58
Now, I love this species种类 despite尽管 the fact事实
that it tried试着 to kill us,
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尽管这个鱼差点要杀死我,
我还是很爱它,
03:03
and that's because
this species种类 in Madagascar马达加斯加,
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因为这种生活在马达加斯加的鱼,
03:05
its closest最近的 relatives亲戚们
are 6,000 kilometers公里 away,
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最近的近亲远在6000公里之外,
03:08
cavefishescavefishes in Australia澳大利亚.
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是一种生活在澳大利亚的鱼类.
03:10
Now, there's no way a three-inch-long三寸长
freshwater淡水 cavefishcavefish
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我们很清楚这种巴掌大的淡水鱼
03:14
can swim游泳 across横过 the Indian印度人 Ocean海洋,
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是无法在印度洋里游过来的,
03:16
so what we found发现 when we compared相比
the DNA脱氧核糖核酸 of these species种类
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所以我们通过对比这两个物种的DNA,
03:19
is that they've他们已经 been separated分离
for more than 100 million百万 years年份,
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知道他们在一亿年前就已经分隔开了,
03:22
or about the time that the southern南部的
continents大陆 were last together一起.
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这大概就是大陆开始漂移的时候.
03:27
So in fact事实, these species种类
didn't move移动 at all.
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事实上这些洞穴鱼根本没挪过窝.
03:30
It's the continents大陆 that moved移动 them.
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是大陆板块在移动.
03:31
And so they give us, through通过 their DNA脱氧核糖核酸,
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这些洞穴鱼类通过它们的DNA,
03:33
this precise精确 model模型 and measure测量
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为我们提供了精确的模型,
03:36
of how to date日期 and time
these ancient geological地质 events事件.
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让我们知道远古时代
地理变化的具体时间.
03:41
Now, this species种类 here is so new
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这个鱼类刚刚发现
03:43
I'm not even allowed允许
to tell you its name名称 yet然而,
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还没有取好名字,
03:45
but I can tell you
it's a new species种类 from Mexico墨西哥,
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这个鱼类是在墨西哥发现的,
03:48
and it's probably大概 already已经 extinct绝种.
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已经频临绝种.
03:50
It's probably大概 extinct绝种 because
the only known已知 cave洞穴 system系统 it's from
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这种鱼类之所以绝种是因为
它们生存的唯一的洞穴环境
03:54
was destroyed销毁 when a dam was built内置 nearby附近.
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因为附近修建的一座大坝而被破坏了.
03:56
Unfortunately不幸 for cavefishescavefishes,
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对洞穴鱼类而言, 很不幸地,
03:58
their groundwater地下水 habitat栖息地
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它们栖息的地下水
04:00
is also our main主要 source资源 of drinking water.
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正好被人类作为饮用水源.
04:03
Now, we actually其实 don't know
this species'种类' closest最近的 relative相对的, yet然而.
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我们目前还不知道这中鱼的近亲.
04:07
It doesn't appear出现 to be
anything else其他 in Mexico墨西哥,
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它跟墨西哥任何物种都不像,
04:10
so maybe it's something in Cuba古巴,
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可能来自古巴,
04:12
or Florida佛罗里达, or India印度.
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或者佛罗里达, 或者印度.
04:14
But whatever随你 it is, it might威力 tell us
something new about the geology地质学
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不管来自哪里, 它都很有可能
告诉我们加勒比海的变迁,
04:19
of the Caribbean加勒比, or the biology生物学
of how to better diagnose诊断
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也可能让我们对于视觉的
生物学原理有进一步认识
04:22
certain某些 types类型 of blindness失明.
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帮助我们治疗人类的眼疾.
04:24
But I hope希望 we discover发现 this species种类
before it goes extinct绝种 too.
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我希望能够在物种灭绝前发现它们.
04:28
And I'm going to spend my one life
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我愿意用我一生努力
04:30
as an ichthyologist鱼类学家
trying to discover发现 and save保存
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作为一名鱼类学家,
去发现和保护
04:34
these humble谦卑 little blind cavefishescavefishes
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这些不起眼的、没有眼睛的
洞穴鱼类
04:36
that can tell us so much
about the geology地质学 of the planet行星
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它们能够告诉我们太多
这个星球的地理变化
04:40
and the biology生物学 of how we see.
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解释为何我们能看见
这五彩的世界.
04:42
Thank you.
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谢谢.
04:43
(Applause掌声)
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(掌声)
Translated by Psycho Decoder
Reviewed by Conway Ye

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Prosanta Chakrabarty - Ichthyologist
Prosanta Chakrabarty studies fish to help explain the evolution of human beings and our planet.

Why you should listen

Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty is an Associate Professor and Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Science at Louisiana State University.

Chakrabarty is a systematist and an ichthyologist studying the evolution and biogeography of both freshwater and marine fishes. His work includes studies of Neotropical (Central and South America, Caribbean) and Indo-West Pacific (Indian and Western Pacific Ocean) fishes. His natural history collecting efforts include trips to Japan, Australia, Taiwan, Madagascar, Panama, Kuwait and many other countries. He has discovered over a dozen new species including new anglerfishes and cavefishes.

The LSU Museum of Natural Science fish collection that Chakrabarty oversees includes nearly half a million fish specimens and nearly 10,000 DNA samples covering most major groups of fishes. He earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and his undergraduate degree is from McGill University in Montreal. He has written two books including A Guide to Academia: Getting into and Surviving Grad School, Postdocs and a Research Job. He is also a former Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He was named a TED Fellow in 2016 and a TED Senior Fellow in 2018.

More profile about the speaker
Prosanta Chakrabarty | Speaker | TED.com

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