为了研究出哪种猜想是正确的，研究人员需要找到过渡类型，既有底栖蜗牛的特性也有漂浮泡泡蜗牛的特征。
To know which scenario was correct, the researchers needed to find a transitional form — with characteristics that fall somewhere between bottom-dwellers and the permanently 'rafting' janthinids.
密歇根大学的研究生Celia Churchill说：“我们有一个很好的想法，那就是漂浮泡泡蜗牛由生活在海底的底栖蜗牛进化而来”。
University of Michigan graduate student Celia Churchill said: 'We had a pretty good idea that that janthinids evolved from snails that live on the sea floor.
为了找到答案，研究人员对它们以及其他潜在亲属的DNA进行排序。 他们发现漂浮泡泡蜗牛是寄生于珊瑚和海葵的底栖蜗牛“梯螺”的后裔。
They discovered that the rafting snails are descendents of sea-floor snails that parasitize corals and sea anemones.
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