And conodonts were all of those things -- abundant, widespread, and composed of lots of distinctive species.

牙刺就是所有这些——数量丰富、分布广泛，并且由许多独特的物种组成。

But conodont elements can do more than just that!

但牙刺元素可以做的不止于此！

In fact, many subdivisions of the Paleozoic are actually defined by when certain conodont species first or last appear.

实上，古生代的许多细分实际上是根据某些牙石物种首次或最后出现的时间来定义的。

Likewise, in the Triassic Period, nearly every age is defined by the first appearance of various conodonts.

同样，在时期，几乎每个时代都由各种牙刺的首次出现来定义。

It turns out that conodont elements actually change color when they're heated up.

实证明，牙刺元素在受热时实际上会改变颜色。

So conodont elements quickly became one of the handiest tools in the geologist toolkit.

因此，牙刺元素迅速成为地质学家工具包中最方便的工具之一。

But meanwhile, paleontologists still had no idea what kind of animals conodonts were.

但与此同时，古生物学家仍然不知道牙刺是一种什么样的动物。

So it turned out that they weren't conodont animals; they were fossils of creatures that ate conodont animals!

所以实证明它们不是牙石动物；它们是吃牙动物的生物的化石！

But further study revealed that the conodont elements found in those fossils were actually in the animals' guts.

但进一步的研究表明，在这些化石中发现的牙刺元素实际上存在于动物的内脏中。

In the 1970s, fossils of some vaguely fish-like creatures were found in Montana that were thought to be conodont animals.

在 20 世 70 年代，在蒙大拿州发现了一些被认为是牙动物的隐约鱼类生物的化石。

Please allow me to introduce you to the conodonts.

请允许我向您介绍牙刺。

So they were given the name conodont, which means " cone tooth." These elements are all verrry tiny.

因此，它们被命名为牙石，意思是“圆锥齿”。这些元素都非常小。

Thanks to these beautiful specimens, we were able to learn that conodont animals were a kind of fish after all!

多亏了这些美丽的标本，我们才知道牙动物毕竟是一种鱼！

But while paleontologists were spending a hundred years or so debating what conodonts were, geologists were discovering what conodonts could do.

但是， 当古生物学家花了大约一百年的时间争论什么是牙刺时，地质学家正在发现牙刺的作用。

It was only marginally more fish-like than its earlier relatives, hagfish and conodonts, with which it shared a common ancestor.

它只比它的早期亲戚盲鳗和牙刺更像鱼，它们与它们有一个共同的祖先。

Check out " The Most Useful Fossils in  the World" , to learn more about conodonts.

查看“世界上最有用的化石”，了解有关牙刺的更多信息。

And the fossils also revealed that the tiny, tooth-like conodont elements were concentrated in the animal's mouth -- but also in its throat!

化石还显示，细小的、类似牙齿的牙刺元素集中在动物的嘴里——但也在它的喉咙里！

One hundred million years later, the warm, shallow seas were packed with tiny plants and animals — essentially, hors d'oeuvres for a plethora of bigger creatures like trilobites, conodonts, brachiopods, and corals.

一千万年之后，温暖的浅海充满了微小的植物和动物——基本上是大量大型生物的开胃菜，如同叶虫，牙虫，腕足类和珊瑚。

Like modern lampreys and hagfish, conodonts were jawless fish, and they were one of the earliest and most successful groups of vertebrates.

像现代的七鳃鳗和盲鳗一样， 牙刺是无颌鱼，它们是最早和最成功的脊椎动物群之一。

Their final extinction brought an end to 300 million years of conodonts' role as a cornerstone of the world's ocean communities.

它们的最终灭绝结束了 3 亿年来牙刺作为世界海洋群落基石的作用。