In clown stripes and swirls, a foot-long (30-centimeter-long) cuckoo wrasse (Labrus mixtus), common in Irish waters, hovers over a vivid sea floor off Valentia Island. All cuckoos are born female; some become males later in life, usually after experiencing motherhood for several years first. A single male will dominate his habitat. When he dies, a top-ranking female will transform to take his place.

　　这种30厘米长，身上带有条纹的cuckoo wrasse鱼在爱尔兰水域很常见。所有的cuckoo wrasse鱼刚生下来时都是雌性的，后来其中的一些雌鱼在当了几年母亲后，会转变成雄鱼。雄鱼会在它的领地里起支配作用，但等它死了之后，就会有一只雌鱼转变为雄鱼来接替它的位置。

　　Some biologists thought that the finger-long red blenny (Parablennius ruber, also called a Portuguese blenny) lived exclusively in Portuguese waters. Turns out the little fish's home range is quite a bit bigger. Photographer Brian Skerry spied this one peeking from a crevice near Ireland's southwest coast. "We found they were common off Valentia Island," he says.

　　有些生物学家认为这种手指长的红色鳚鱼(red blenny)只生活在葡萄牙海域。但事实证明，这种小鱼的生活范围要比人们想像的宽阔得多。摄影师布莱恩·史盖瑞就在爱尔兰西南海岸附近的岩石裂缝中，捕捉到了这种小鱼的身影。

　　Churning up silt some 80 feet (24 meters) down, the rare burrowing fireworks anemone (Pachycerianthus multiplicatus), with up to 200 tentacles, has been recorded in just a handful of spots off the west coast of Scotland and Ireland.

　　Local marine biologist Nick Pfeiffer led photographer Brian Skerry out to see the soccer-ball-size animals in a protected bay in Connemara. "Knowing how scarce they are," says Skerry," it was like making a new discovery when we came upon them."

　　在苏格兰和爱尔兰西部沿海，拥有200多只触须的珍稀海葵让人们感受到了这种难得一见的美丽。(文/王高山)