不識貨！美國遊客吃掉罕見六腳章魚

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.
拉布羅·海德拉斯在希臘度假時抓住了一隻章魚，按照當地習俗他們把章魚殺掉後送到小酒館做晚餐吃。

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.
直到章魚做熟上桌，海德拉斯才發現這隻和普通章魚有所不同——不是普通的八腳章魚，而是六腳章魚。這隻罕見的動物是遊客在希臘潛水時捉到的，而且是迄今爲止全世界發現的第二隻六腳章魚。

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.
現年49歲的海德拉斯先生是兩個孩子的父親，他捉住章魚後把它帶到當地小餐館裏，廚師把章魚做熟，還和西紅柿、檸檬、生菜葉子一起端了出來。直到那時，海德拉斯和他的生物學家朋友才發現這隻章魚的不同之處。海德拉斯對他之前的作爲很懊惱。

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年人們在北威爾士發現了全世界第一隻六腳章魚後，把它送到了黑潭海洋生物中心。那隻六腳章魚綽號叫做“亨利”，後來又被放生入海，現在大概已經自然死亡了，因爲章魚的最長壽命只有五年。

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.
後悔莫及的海德拉斯先生說：“它嚐起來和其他章魚沒什麼區別，但我現在感覺很糟糕。當我們抓住它時沒發現這個不同之處，也沒注意它是否受過傷。”

'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.'
“我認爲它是天生就只有六隻觸手。我們每年都去希臘，每次抓到章魚都會做同樣的事情，所以也沒再多想。”

'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，但度假的地方沒有互聯網。後來我打電話給一個生物學家朋友，他說這是真的，然後我就害怕了。”

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臘，但現在是住在華盛頓特區的美國公民。他和10歲的女兒艾瑞迪、6歲的兒子亞利安一起在波利翁半島抓住了這條六腳章魚。

The mechanical engineer has given details to the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Athens to increase awareness of the wild hexapus.
這位機械工程師向位於雅典的希臘水族生物研究中心詳細地彙報了情況，希望能提高人們對六腳章魚的關注。

‘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.
海德拉斯先生說：“因爲無知我殺死了這麼珍貴的動物，內心很愧疚。我現能補償的實在是太少了。”生物學家說六腳章魚是普通章魚（八腳章魚）的胚胎變種，而非新型物種。

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.’
紐卡斯爾大學海洋生物專家馬特·本特利教授說：“這種章魚很少見，很可能是在早期發育時產生變異的結果。現在還沒有證據表明它是一個新物種。另一種解釋是，它原本有八隻觸手，但後來受傷斷了兩隻，而傷口則隨時間完全癒合。”