On a small yacht off the coast of the Mediterranean island of Malta, Marlon Clark held up a grizzled root of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica to admire its potential. His bright orange anorak ruffled in the breeze as the beaming 29-year-old pointed out a khaki patch on the root, smaller than a thumbnail. Clark was fascinated. What looked like the “moss of the ocean” was actually an animal. “It’s just weird because, on land, it’s very obvious what’s an animal and what’s a plant. I feel like when you go into the ocean, there’s stuff that just doesn’t look like either of those,” he said. “It feels like you’re going to a different planet.”
在地中海島國馬爾他海岸附近的一艘小型遊艇上，馬龍•克拉克(Marlon Clark)舉起一根粗糙的地中海海神草(Posidonia oceanica)根部，欣賞著它的潛力。這位29歲的年輕人身穿亮橙色防風夾克，在微風中衣角飄揚，他指著根部上一塊比指甲蓋還小的卡其色斑點，滿臉興奮。克拉克對此著迷。看起來像「海洋的苔蘚」的東西，其實是一種動物。「這很奇怪，因爲在陸地上，什麼是動物、什麼是植物都很明顯。但我覺得當你進入海洋時，有些東西看起來既不像動物，也不像植物，」他說，「感覺就像去了另一個星球。」