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Mysterious Organism Threatens Huge, Mediterranean Clam
A microscopic organism is causing a huge clam of the Mediterranean Sea to disappear and ocean scientists are worried.
The pen shell clam is the largest shellfish in the Mediterranean. The clam can grow to one meter in length. Its shell looks something like a huge feather.
For hundreds of years, the clam has provided food and an unusual material, called sea silk, which can be used to make a kind of cloth. The clam also cleans water by filtering out organic material from it.
The European Union named the pen shell clam a protected species many years ago. The clam has been overfished and has suffered from pollution and destruction of its waters. A ban on hunting the clam also has been poorly enforced. They are harvested for food and for their unusual, large shells.
The pen shells can live for many years, but they take years to reach reproductive age. Now, they are disappearing faster than they can be replaced.

New parasite alarms experts
A new parasite which first appeared in 2016, has alarmed experts. It is unclear exactly how the parasite kills the clams.
Scientists say it appears to attack the pen shell's digestive system. The clam becomes unable to close its shell and can be attacked by its enemies.
Maria del Mar Otero is with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. She said, "In less than a year it wiped out (the pen shell population of) the Spanish coast." Then waters of France, Malta, Tunisia and Italy were affected.
The suspected parasite is known only by its scientific name, haplosporidium pinnae. Researchers say it also may be responsible for killing pen shell clams in some Greek waters and those of Turkey and Cyprus.
Scientists are now racing to understand how the parasite spreads. This information is needed to protect the clam.
Pantelis Katharios is a researcher at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research, or HCMR, in Greece. He said scientists are not sure of anything yet, except that the parasite is spreading quickly.
Yiannis Issaris is with HCMR's Institute of Oceanography. He said tests show that the organism, which appears to be killing the clams in Greece, could be the same as the one affecting clams in Spain.
"This is very fresh for the scientific community," he said, "We're still at the stage of recording where it has spread to."
Scientists are carrying out tests in Mediterranean countries where the clams are dying. Some areas of Greece have healthy populations of the clams, but in other areas they have disappeared.
They have found that only the pen shell clams are affected. A similar species, pinna rudis, has been unharmed. And they still do not know why the parasite is so deadly to the pen shell clams.
The parasites might have come from another species and for some reason jumped to the pen shell clam. It also is possible that other conditions including pollution, climate change or water temperature changes could be causing the problem.
Katharios said, "Normally parasites in nature do not have any benefit from harming the host, because they depend on the host."
He added it is not clear what will happen to the pen shell clams or the microorganism affecting them. The big clams could completely disappear taking the parasites with them.
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重点解析

重点讲解：
1. filter out 滤除；滤掉；
Children should have glasses which filter out UV rays.
儿童应该戴上滤除紫外线的眼镜E&4vbXR2LPb。
2. suffer from (因疾病或处于其他不利境地而)受苦，受难，受折磨；
They suffer from health problems and fear the long term effects of radiation
他们遭受着健康问题的困扰并且害怕辐射的长期影响g&j*n#SaE8z。
3. wipe out 摧毁；毁灭；使灭绝；
Of course, in the event of a disaster big enough to wipe out all humans, such as a colossal asteroid strike, it would not really matter.
当然，万一遭到一次足以毁灭全人类的灾难，例如行星撞地球，这个问题将会无关紧要5nDJ)oRtbUYmywo。
4. be sure of 一定的；必定的；无疑的；确保的；
One thing I am sure of was that she was scared.
有一点我能肯定，那就是她当时被吓到了3Abimu7JdZ。

参考译文

神秘生物威胁巨型地中海蛤蜊
一种微生物正在导致地中海的一种巨型蛤蜊消失，这令海洋科学家感到担心S*0g]xTAn,8Q0@vwh。
笔壳蛤是地中海最大的水生有壳动物Uh%bt4xX0;[)RIW!ZO。这种蛤蜊能长到1米长z5Cxc9G=D_cm。其外壳看起来像一根巨大的羽毛u7YX0bBj0r9~[^HP。
数百年来，笔壳蛤提供了食物和一种不同寻常的材料，这种材料名为海丝，可以用来制作一种布料W6EfCQn,M!]Z4F。这种蛤蜊也会通过滤除有机物质来净水0j(jvpCEQLl。
欧盟在许多年前就将笔壳蛤列入受保护物种名单w#d^FiqVU|,TJ~K。这种蛤蜊一直被过度捕捞，而且遭受污染和水域被破坏的痛苦%6z-pndVMQgjh。另外，禁止捕捞笔壳蛤的禁令也执行不力~Ok-A~c~B*XAGmg。笔壳蛤因其不同寻常的巨型外壳而被捕捞，同时笔壳蛤还被用来制作食物L2d1=Do9e[Y。
笔壳蛤可以存活多年，但是它们需要数年才能达到生育年龄a|&]L8^2*,!p^E。而现在，笔壳蛤的消失速度已经超过了其换代的速度s!|zs;Nt+7R2kI~PSX。
新型寄生虫令专家感到担心
一种在2016年首次出现的新型寄生虫令专家感到担心JoJvpxt7WeLCGsz。目前人们还不清楚这种寄生虫究竟是如何杀死笔壳蛤的VxK5qQWs]k0H_&.CaI*A。
科学家表示，这种寄生虫似乎攻击了笔壳蛤的消化系统gHSv9b_BK)c,zhp6+R;d。笔壳蛤无法关闭外壳，继而被其敌人攻击E7NDIX3we;NWQ.^!]m。
玛丽亚·德尔玛·奥特罗来自国际自然保护联盟~yqgQPmJmjW4X。她表示，“在不到一年的时间内，这种寄生虫就消灭了西班牙海岸的笔壳蛤QhsujYIhsl*r7Ois|.。”随后，法国、马耳他、突尼斯和意大利的水域也受到了影响mgx]C|eVThzC(R%i[J。
目前人们只知道这种寄生虫的学名是haplosporidium pinnae8]3=j9JBBGBi@SQUaM。研究人员表示，该寄生虫可能还导致了希腊、土耳其和塞浦路斯一些水域的笔壳蛤死亡&m7lY-_Jd#0-]1;&j6w。
现在，科学家正在努力了解这种寄生虫的传播方式G_dZV^vv|,j@kq5.l。因为保护笔壳蛤需要这类信息Jy~SsRTqE+v]P_##REO4。
潘特利斯·卡萨里奥斯是希腊海洋研究中心（简称HCMR）的研究员K20tmAxmVu^0aEC@d@n。他表示，除了这种寄生虫的传播速度非常快之外，目前科学家什么都不能确定eeW8;FZCa@。
伊安尼斯·伊萨利斯来自希腊海洋研究中心的海洋学研究所V%C57_BtO&eX|。他说，试验表明，这种似乎在杀害希腊笔壳蛤的生物，可能与影响西班牙蛤蜊的生物是同一种gZ&,3+dgPkeb.Rl@1。
他说，“这对科学界来说非常新鲜MC1TvC3.ogXl)+1W_4P6。我们仍处于记录其传播地域的阶段lqzwp7R98NUJ。”
科学家正在出现笔壳蛤死亡事件的地中海国家进行试验t=7w=uNSPCMQeFT%。希腊一些地区的笔壳蛤十分健康，但其他地区的笔壳蛤却已经消失-6]tBhA9pHW.8qt3。
他们发现，受到影响的只有笔壳蛤Z,@sQx^j51YY%p。与笔壳蛤类似的江珧则没有受到伤害[g2ryBAX,dX7E89]*。科学家仍然不知道为什么这种寄生虫对笔壳蛤来说如此致命UfX82;c3V[。
该寄生虫可能来自另一个物种，因为某种原因而跳到了笔壳蛤身上2IXiJ6Q2Gu1U87eef72。另外，污染、气候变化或水温变化等其他条件也可能引发这一问题~h.(j|1lS]0T。
卡萨里奥斯表示，“一般来说，自然界中的寄生虫并不会因为伤害宿主而受益，因为它们要依赖于宿主*]._I1z_20.9oe。”
他还表示，目前并不清楚笔壳蛤或影响笔壳蛤的微生物会发生什么vgJcxJ2RF2+e_。巨型笔壳蛤可能因携带这种寄生虫而完全消失(s)~r@oshh。
小马里奥·里特报道rgCQvZ2Lpe.(fQ。

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