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Scientists say a small parasite is the cause of death of many sea urchins in the Caribbean Sea.
科学家表示，一种小型寄生虫是加勒比海许多海胆死亡的原因。
Sea urchins are simple animals that have long spines.
海胆是一种长有长刺的简单的动物。
Last year, the long-spined sea urchins, also known as Diadema antillarum, started getting sick.
去年，长刺海胆，也被称为刺冠海胆，开始生病。
They were losing their spines and their sticky feet were losing their grip on the coral reefs.
它们失去了刺，它们粘乎乎的脚也失去了其对珊瑚礁的抓力。
The loss of so many sea urchins, which eat algae that grow on the corals, affected the undersea environment from the Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico to Florida.
海胆以生长在珊瑚上的藻类为食，大量海胆的消失影响了从维尔京群岛到波多黎各再到佛罗里达的海底环境。
Mya Breitbart led a team of scientists who investigated the sickness.
米娅·布赖巴特带领一组科学家对这种疾病进行了调查。
She is a marine microbiologist at the University of South Florida.
她是南佛罗里达大学的海洋微生物学家。
The team presented their study recently in the scientific publication Science Advances.
该调查小组最近在科学出版物《科学进展》上发表了他们的研究成果。
"The case is closed," Breitbart said.
布赖巴特说：“这个案子已经结案了。”
The scientists compared the sick urchins to healthy ones and determined a single-celled parasite was to blame.
科学家们将患病的海胆与健康的海胆进行了对比，确定单细胞寄生虫是罪魁祸首。
Ian Hewson is a marine disease researcher at Cornell University in the state of New York.
伊恩·休森是纽约州康奈尔大学的海洋疾病研究员。
He said the team ruled out bacteria or viruses.
他说，该调查小组排除了细菌或病毒的可能性。
But the team did see single-celled organisms called ciliates in the sick urchins.
但该调查小组确实在患病的海胆中发现了名为纤毛虫的单细胞生物。
The scientists then put a group of healthy sea urchins grown in a laboratory in a tank with some of the parasites.
然后，科学家将一组在实验室中生长的健康海胆与一些寄生虫一起放在一个水箱中。
Six of the 10 urchins in the tank later died.
水箱里的10个海胆有6个后来死了。
The scientists are now working to find a way to prevent future losses.
科学家现在正在努力寻找一种防止未来产生损失的方法。
They do not have a treatment for the sea urchins, but they are hoping to learn how the parasites spread so they can stop them.
他们没有治疗海胆的方法，但他们希望了解这种寄生虫是如何传播的，这样他们就可以阻止它们。
Breitbart noted another time that many sea urchins died in the 1980s.
布莱巴特指出，在20世纪80年代，也有许多海胆死亡。
She did not know if the same parasites caused that problem.
她不知道是不是同样的寄生虫导致了这个问题。
Don Levitan is a marine scientist at Florida State University who was not involved in the study.
唐·莱维坦是佛罗里达州立大学的一名海洋科学家，他没有参与这项研究。
He said the two urchin die-offs, or widespread losses of the animals, have changed the coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea.
他说，这两次海胆数量的锐减，即大量海胆死亡，已经改变了加勒比海的珊瑚礁。
He said at one time, they were covered with spiny urchins, but now they are covered in algae, sick from disease and stressed by rising water temperatures.
他说，它们曾被带刺的海胆覆盖，但如今它们被藻类覆盖，它们生病了且因水温上升而受到压力。
"Coral reefs in the Caribbean are in trouble," he said.
他说：“加勒比海的珊瑚礁有麻烦了”。
"We are at a different place than we were 30, 40 years ago."
“与三四十年前相比，我们现在的处境不同。”
I'm Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
