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马尔代夫的白沙滩
其实是它们的便便
马尔代夫是印度洋上的一个群岛国家，由1200个珊瑚礁岛屿组成。这些珊瑚岛有着令人惊叹的白色沙滩，四周盘绕蔚蓝的海水。一项研讨显现，它们的存在或许要归功于鹦嘴鱼，更具体地说，归功于鹦嘴鱼的粪便。
假如你曾经在珊瑚礁邻近浮潜，那你或许见过色彩斑斓的鹦嘴鱼，这个姓名源于它们尖利的喙状牙齿。你或许也听过它们的声响。[呼呼咕咕] 那其实便是鹦嘴鱼吃珊瑚礁的珊瑚骨骼时宣布的声响，它在寻食藻类的时分也会吞下一些小块的硬珊瑚。
“这些珊瑚被鹦嘴鱼吞入，然后磨碎；经过它们的肠道，最终以很多沉淀物的方式从尾端排出。”英国埃克塞特大学（University of Exeter）的海洋地球科学家克里斯·佩里（Chris Perry）说。
“然后这些排泄物就被涣散到珊瑚礁上。这是一种把珊瑚底物转化成堆积物质的办法，至少在这个生态系统和其它具有很多鹦嘴鱼的当地是这样的。”
2013年，佩里和搭档前往马尔代夫，研讨生长在水下的珊瑚礁怎么发生堆积物，从而堆积并构成高出水面的岛屿。研讨团队发现鹦嘴鱼在这一过程中起到了至关重要的效果：它们的排泄物占了一切堆积在珊瑚礁上沙子的……[检查全文]
Parrotfish Build Islands with Their Poop
The Maldives form a constellation of almost 1,200 coral reef islands in the Indian Ocean. They have stunning white sand beaches surrounded by emerald blue water. And according to a new study, they may owe their existence to parrotfish. More specifically: to parrotfish poop.
If you’ve ever snorkeled near a coral reef, you’ve probably seen neon-colored parrotfish. Their name refers to their sharp, beaklike teeth. You may have heard them too. [Scraping sound] That’s a parrotfish literally eating the reef’s coral skeleton. It bites off tiny pieces of hard coral as it forages for algae.
“That gets taken into the fish. It’s then milled. And it passes through their intestines and it’s then excreted out the back end as clouds of sediment.” Chris Perry, a marine geoscientist at the University of Exeter in the U.K.
“And that is then distributedonto the reef. And it’s a way, at least in this system and elsewhere parrotfish are abundant that you can convert coral substrate into sediment grade material.”
In 2013, Perry and colleagues went to the Maldives to find out how the reef—which grows underwater—generates sediments that pile up, forming islands that rise above the water’s surface. The team discovered that parrotfish play a critical role in this process: their waste accounts for a whopping...[full transcript]
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