新研究提供了关于地球上最大鱼类鲸鲨生物学方面令人惊讶的细节。科学家表示，雌性鲸鲨的生长速度较慢，但是能够达到比雄性鲸鲨更大的体型。
Researchers recently said they had followed the growth of 54 whale sharks over 10 years. The creatures swam in the Ningaloo Reef off of Australia's west coast, where hundreds of the rare fish travel every year.
研究人员最近表示，他们在10年时间里追踪了54头鲸鲨的生长情况。这些生物在澳大利亚西海岸的宁格鲁礁游动，每年有数百种珍稀鱼类在这里游动。
Whale sharks of both sexes were found to have their fastest growth while young — about 20 to 30 centimeters per year.
研究发现雄性和雌性的鲸鲨都在年幼时生长得最快，每年能长大约20-30厘米。
Males were found to grow faster than females. They reached around eight meters in length at about 30 years old. At that age, they reach sexual maturity, meaning the fish were able to produce young. Females grew larger than males. Females reached about 14 meters at about age 50, when they reached sexual maturity.
人们发现雄性鲸鲨比雌性鲸鲨生长更快。它们在30岁左右体长能达到8米。它们在这个年龄达到性成熟，这意味着它可以繁殖。雌性鲸鲨要比雄性鲸鲨长。雌性在50岁左右时达到性成熟，体长能够达到14米。
Mark Meekan is a marine biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He led the research that was published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
马克·米肯是澳大利亚海洋科学研究所的海洋生物学家。他领导了这项研究，研究结果发表在《海洋科学前沿》上。
Meekan described whale sharks as "remarkable." He noted that females give birth to many young: "up to 300 at one time." For this reason, Meekan said, female sharks probably need to be very large.
米肯称鲸鲨“很神奇。”他指出，雌性鲸鲨会生出很多幼鲨，一次最多能生300个。米肯表示，出于这个原因，雌性鲸鲨可能需要体型更大。
"Our study provides the first evidence that male and female whale sharks grow at different rates," Meekan said.
米肯表示：“我们的研究首次证实雄性和雌性鲸鲨的生长速度不同。”
Whale sharks are filter feeders, meaning they take food and nutrients from the water. They swim great distances to find enough to eat.
鲸鲨是滤食者，这意味着它从水中获取食物和营养，它们游动很远的距离以寻找足够的食物。
The longest-known whale shark ever recorded reached a length of about 18 meters. Whale sharks can live for 100 to 150 years.
有记录以来已知最长的鲸鲨达到了约18米的长度。鲸鲨可以活100到150年。
Meekan suggested the study's findings were important for saving whale sharks. He noted that if it takes 30 or more years for the creatures to reach sexual maturity, "there are lots of threats such as hunting and ship-strike...before they get a chance to breed."
米肯认为这项研究对挽救鲸鲨非常重要。他指出，如果这些生物达到性成熟需要30年或更长时间，“在它们获得繁殖机会之前存在许多威胁，例如捕猎和轮船撞击。
For that reason, Meekan described efforts to save the creatures as "urgent."
出于这个原因，米肯称挽救这些生物的工作非常“急迫。”
I'm John Russell.
我是约翰·罗素。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)