不识货！美国游客吃掉罕见六脚章鱼

After catching an octopus, holidaymaker Labros Hydras followed local tradition by killing it and taking it to a taverna to be served for his supper.

拉布罗·海德拉斯在希腊度假时抓住了一只章鱼，按照当地习俗他们把章鱼杀掉后送到小酒馆做晚餐吃。

That is when he discovered this was no ordinary specimen – it was a ‘hexapus’ with only six legs instead of the usual eight. The creature found during a snorkelling trip in Greece is believed to be only the second recorded worldwide.

直到章鱼做熟上桌，海德拉斯才发现这只和普通章鱼有所不同——不是普通的八脚章鱼，而是六脚章鱼。这只罕见的动物是游客在希腊潜水时捉到的，而且是迄今为止全世界发现的第二只六脚章鱼。

Father-of-two Mr Hydras, 49, took it to a local taverner where a chef cooked it and served it with tomato, lemon and a lettuce leaf. It was only then that he checked with a friend who is a biologist – and felt sick at what he had done.

现年49岁的海德拉斯先生是两个孩子的父亲，他捉住章鱼后把它带到当地小餐馆里，厨师把章鱼做熟，还和西红柿、柠檬、生菜叶子一起端了出来。直到那时，海德拉斯和他的生物学家朋友才发现这只章鱼的不同之处。海德拉斯对他之前的作为很懊恼。

The first known hexapus was found off North Wales in 2008 and taken to Blackpool Sea Life Centre. Nicknamed Henry, he was then released back into the sea where he has probably died of natural causes as their maximum life span is five years.

2008年人们在北威尔士发现了全世界第一只六脚章鱼后，把它送到了黑潭海洋生物中心。那只六脚章鱼绰号叫做“亨利”，后来又被放生入海，现在大概已经自然死亡了，因为章鱼的最长寿命只有五年。

A repentant Mr Hydras said: ‘It tasted just like a normal octopus but now I feel really bad. When we caught it, there was nothing to suggest it was any different or had been damaged.

后悔莫及的海德拉斯先生说：“它尝起来和其他章鱼没什么区别，但我现在感觉很糟糕。当我们抓住它时没发现这个不同之处，也没注意它是否受过伤。”

'I thought it had been born with six tentacles. We go to Greece every year and when we catch an octopus, we do the same thing so we just did not think about it.'

“我认为它是天生就只有六只触手。我们每年都去希腊，每次抓到章鱼都会做同样的事情，所以也没再多想。”

'I wanted to find out more, but there was no internet where we were. I then called my friend who is a biologist and he told me it was true and I was horrified.'

“我想知道更多信息，但度假的地方没有互联网。后来我打电话给一个生物学家朋友，他说这是真的，然后我就害怕了。”

Mr Hydras, who was born in Greece but is now a US citizen living in Washington DC, caught the hexapus with his daughter Areti, ten, and son Arion, six, off the Pelion peninsula.

海德拉斯先生出生在希腊，但现在是住在华盛顿特区的美国公民。他和10岁的女儿艾瑞迪、6岁的儿子亚利安一起在波利翁半岛抓住了这条六脚章鱼。

The mechanical engineer has given details to the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Athens to increase awareness of the wild hexapus.

这位机械工程师向位于雅典的希腊水族生物研究中心详细地汇报了情况，希望能提高人们对六脚章鱼的关注。

‘It is the least that I can do given my ignorance and guilt that I feel for killing such a rare animal,’ he said. Biologists said the hexapus is the result of a natal abnormality in a common octopus (octopus vulgaris), not a new species.

海德拉斯先生说：“因为无知我杀死了这么珍贵的动物，内心很愧疚。我现能补偿的实在是太少了。”生物学家说六脚章鱼是普通章鱼（八脚章鱼）的胚胎变种，而非新型物种。

Professor Matt Bentley, a marine biology expert at Newcastle University, said: ‘It is rare to find an octopus like this. There is every possibility it could have grown an abnormality in early development. There is nothing to suggest it is a different species. Another explanation is it could have been injured and healed over time.’

纽卡斯尔大学海洋生物专家马特·本特利教授说：“这种章鱼很少见，很可能是在早期发育时产生变异的结果。现在还没有证据表明它是一个新物种。另一种解释是，它原本有八只触手，但后来受伤断了两只，而伤口则随时间完全愈合。”