Why caviar is so expensive？ 为何鱼子酱如此昂贵？
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鱼子酱是世界上最昂贵的食物之一，每千克的售价高达35000美元，为世界各地的富人权贵所喜爱和推崇。然而，人们吃鱼子酱却是一种逐渐养成的爱好，事实上，鱼子酱以前的价格没有如此高昂。19世纪时，鲟鱼在美国十分常见，所以鱼子酱会像其他酒吧食品一样免费提供给顾客。在欧洲，渔民将这些鱼卵喂给猪吃，或者直接丢弃在沙滩上。那么，是什么原因造就了鱼子酱的现状呢？
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原因一：只有鲟鱼产的卵才能做出纯正的鱼子酱
Similar to true champagne, caviar doesn't come from just anywhere. To get the real thing, it has to be eggs from a sturgeon. There are 27 species around the world in North America, Europe, and Asia, but probably not for long.?
与纯正的香槟酒一样，鱼子酱并不是随处可得的，只有用鲟鱼产的卵才能做出真正的鱼子酱。北美、欧洲、亚洲等地的鲟鱼加起来大约有27种，但好景不会太长。
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原因二：人类过度捕捞鲟鱼并且破坏其生活环境
In this case, sturgeon will die out because humans are over-harvesting their populations and destroying their habitats.
人类不仅过度捕捞鲟鱼，而且还破坏其栖息地，在这种情况下，鲟鱼必定会逐渐灭绝。
It wasn't until around the 20th century when these freshwater fish and their eggs became a rare commodity. Pollution poisoned their waters and dams blocked their spawning grounds upstream. They had nowhere to reproduce and continued to be overfished for their meat and roe. On top of that, it takes 8-20 years for a female to sexually mature, depending on the species.
直到20世纪，这种淡水鱼及其鱼卵才成为稀有商品。它们生活的水域不断受到污染，人类建造的水坝阻止了它们到河流上游产卵，它们没有合适的繁殖区域，人类又过度地捕获鱼肉和鱼卵。最重要的是，雌鲟鱼需要8到20年的时间才能完全性成熟。
In 2010, the International Union for Conservation of Nature placed 18 species on its Red List of Threatened Species, making the sturgeon the most endangered group of species on Earth. But lists like these are bittersweet. On the one hand, they can help protect the sturgeon from further population decline.
2010年，世界自然保护联盟将18类鲟鱼列入濒危物种红色名录，这表明鲟鱼已经成为地球上濒临灭绝的物种，但另一方面，被列入濒危名录可以保护鲟鱼，使其数量不再继续下降。
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原因三：稀有价值理论
The rarer that caviar becomes, the more we can't get enough of it. There's actually an economic idea that explains this. It's called the rarity value thesis and it describes how "rarity increases the value of the item." Sturgeon can weigh up to several thousand pounds, and produce hundreds of pounds of roe at a time. The world record belongs to a beluga sturgeon that weighed 2,520 pounds and yielded 900 pounds of roe.
鱼子酱越稀少，人们就越无法满足，越想得到它。我们可以用一个经济学术语解释这一现象，即稀有价值理论，当一件物品的数量变少后，它的价值就会有所增加。一条鲟鱼可以重达几千磅（1磅≈0.907斤），一次可以产卵几百磅。世界上最大的一条鲟鱼是欧洲鳇，它重达2520磅，曾产下过900磅重的鱼卵。
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原因四：各国对鱼子酱的监管日趋严格
She can produce millions of eggs at a time, but odds are that only one will survive to adulthood. In the end, the sturgeon population couldn't keep up with demand and their coveted eggs became the jewels of the luxury food scene. Today, caviar imports and exports are closely regulated in the U.S., which is partly why it's so expensive.?
虽然雌鲟鱼一次可产成千上万个卵，但是幼鱼成活几率很小，只有一条幼鱼能够顺利长大成年。最终，鲟鱼种群数量的增长远远满足不了人类的需求，人们渴望得到的鲟鱼卵已经成为高档美食中闪耀的明珠。如今，在美国，无论是出口还是进口鱼子酱都受到严格监管，这也是鱼子酱为何如此昂贵的原因之一。
来源：Business Insider
编译：Vivian
（编辑:织言）
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