海底兩萬(wàn)里 第216期 第16章 在海底平原散步(7)

Conseil, like me, had stopped before this splendid sight. Obviously, in the presence of these zoophyte and mollusk specimens, the fine lad was classifying his head off. Polyps and echinoderms abounded on the seafloor: various isis coral, cornularian coral living in isolation, tufts of virginal genus Oculina formerly known by the name "white coral," prickly fungus coral in the shape of mushrooms, sea anemone holding on by their muscular disks, providing a literal flowerbed adorned by jellyfish from the genus Porpita wearing collars of azure tentacles, and starfish that spangled the sand, including veinlike feather stars from the genus Asterophyton that were like fine lace embroidered by the hands of water nymphs, their festoons swaying to the faint undulations caused by our walking. It filled me with real chagrin to crush underfoot the gleaming mollusk samples that littered the seafloor by the thousands: concentric comb shells, hammer shells, coquina (seashells that actually hop around), top-shell snails, red helmet shells, angel-wing conchs, sea hares, and so many other exhibits from this inexhaustible ocean. But we had to keep walking, and we went forward while overhead there scudded schools of Portuguese men-of-war that let their ultramarine tentacles drift in their wakes, medusas whose milky white or dainty pink parasols were festooned with azure tassels and shaded us from the sun's rays, plus jellyfish of the species Pelagia panopyra that, in the dark, would have strewn our path with phosphorescent glimmers!

對(duì)著這燦爛的美景，康塞爾跟我一樣驚奇地欣賞。顯然，這個(gè)守本分的人，要把眼前這些形形色色的植蟲(chóng)動(dòng)物和軟體動(dòng)物分類(lèi)，不停地分類(lèi)。滿地都是腔腸動(dòng)物和棘皮動(dòng)物。變化不一的叉形蟲(chóng)，孤獨(dú)生活的角形蟲(chóng)，純潔的眼球叢，被人叫作雪白珊瑚的聳起作蘑菇形的菌生蟲(chóng)，肌肉盤(pán)貼在地上的白頭翁……布置成一片花地;再鑲上結(jié)了天藍(lán)絲絳領(lǐng)子的紅花石疣，散在沙間象星宿一般的海星，滿是小蟲(chóng)偽海盤(pán)車(chē)，這一切真像水中仙女手繡的精美花邊。朵朵的、花彩因我們走路時(shí)所引起的最輕微的波動(dòng)而擺動(dòng)起來(lái)。把成千成萬(wàn)散布在地上的軟體動(dòng)物的美麗品種，環(huán)紋海扇，海糙魚(yú)，當(dāng)那貝——真正會(huì)跳躍的貝，洼形貝，朱紅胄，像天使翅膀一般的袖形貝，葉紋貝，以及其他許許多多的無(wú)窮無(wú)盡的海洋生物, 踐踏在我的腳底下，我心中實(shí)在難受，實(shí)在愧惜。但是我們不得不走，我們繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，在我們頭上是成群結(jié)隊(duì)的管狀水母，它們伸出它們的天藍(lán)色觸須，一連串地飄在水中。還有月形水母，它那帶乳白色或淡玫瑰紅的傘，套了天藍(lán)色框子，給我們遮住了陽(yáng)光。在黑暗中，更有發(fā)亮的i半球形水母，為我們發(fā)出磷光，照亮了我們前進(jìn)的道路!