最古老的野生移植珊瑚
很久之前，我們開始在自家的水族箱中養殖野生珊瑚。自那時起，人們對珊瑚感到好奇和著迷。它們的骨幹散發著美感，許多品種是製作珠寶和禮器的次貴重材料。
但在一百多年前，一些「傢伙」在澳大利亞洛島試驗移植野生珊瑚。A.P. Orr先生和H.C.Vidgen先生當時只有最簡單的「蒸汽朋克」潛水設備，其中包括潛水頭盔、軟管和手搖泵，對鹿角珊瑚屬進行了生長實驗。
鹿角珊瑚屬的兩個群落——應該是形似草莓脆餅的鹿角珊瑚（A. microclados）和花環狀的風信子鹿角珊瑚（A. hyacinthus），被固定在一個水泥石塊上生長了六個月。這也許是有史以來的首次珊瑚生長實驗，這些研究人員第一手掌握了珊瑚的生長速度。
六個月後，這兩個曾經相距幾英寸的珊瑚群落幾乎長到一起了。我們可以從中推測，這些群落移植到淺水區要比採集它們的地方更好，也許是由於他們的手工潛水設備的限制。今天我們看到的珊瑚品種與一百年前觀察員和攝影師看到的幾乎相同。
原文：
Historical Photograph of One of the Oldest Wild Coral Transplants
Humans have wondered about and been fascinated by corals on wild corals since long before we were keeping and growing them in our home aquariums. Their skeletons have long been a source of beauty, with many species forming semi-precious materials used in jewelry and ritual objects.
But at least one hundred years ago some 『reef guys』 were experimenting with transplanting wild corals at Low Island Australia. Using only the most rudimentary 『steampunk』 diving equipment consisting of a dive helmet, hose and a hand cranked pump, Mr. A.P. Orr and H.C. Vidgen conducted growth experiments onAcropora.
Two colonies ofAcropora, possibly a strawberry shortcakeA. microcladosand a tablingA. hyacinthus, were fastened to a cement block and allowed to grow for six months. In what is perhaps one of the first coral growth experiments ever conducted, these researchers learned first hand how quickly corals can grow.
After six months time the two colonies that were once separated by several inches are nearly touching. We can also infer from the change in darkness of the corals that the colonies were probably transplanted to shallower water than where they were collected, probably due to the limitations of their manual diving equipment. It』s fascinating to see that species we are familiar with today looked more or less the same to observers and photographers a hundred years ago.
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