导读:网络上走红的北海鲸鲨近日发现被捕杀并在北海鱼市进行贩卖，中国网民按耐不住，纷纷呼吁将罪犯绳之以法。
Two fishermen have been detained in China over the killing of a whale shark days after one found fame online.
中国两位渔民因捕杀在网上出名了的鲸鲨而被拘留。
Pictures of a huge fish had been posted online by workers on an oil rig near Weizhou Island, south of Guangxi province, in early May.
五月初，广西省南部涠洲岛海域附近油田的一位工人将一条大鱼的照片发布到网上。
It soon attracted much admiration on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo.Then two days later, news spread that a whale shark had been killed and sold as fish food at nearby Beihai market.
这则消息在中国和Twitter类似的社交网站新浪微博上引起了广泛关注。然而两天后，新闻报道一只鲸鲨被捕杀并在附近的北海市场作为鱼肥出售。
Photos circulated online showed a huge whale shark being winched onto a pier by crane.Beihai police have confirmed the fish sold at the market was a whale shark, after they retrieved pieces of fish skin, though they can’t say for sure it was the same one seen by the rig.
从网上流传的照片可以看到，一只巨大的鲸鲨被起重机吊到码头上。北海警方在取回鱼皮后证实，该市场出售的确实是鲸鲨，尽管他们还不能确定是否为图片中被吊起的那头鲸鲨。
But social media users reacted furiously, calling for the culprit to be held accountable. Catching endangered whale sharks is illegal in China.
然而网友反应激烈，号召将罪犯问责。在中国抓捕濒危鲸鲨是违法行为。
Old friend’
“老朋友”
The whale shark was first spotted and blogged by workers on board the oil rig on 5 May.
这头鲸鲨最初于5月5日被油田平台工作人员发现并拍照发到微博上。
The microblog post called the fish an "old friend", though misidentified it as a sand tiger shark. A later post said the same species would swim near the oil rig in May each year.
该微博称这条鱼是一位“老朋友”，尽管后来证明他将其误认成沙虎鲨。后来博主又发微博说同一物种每年五月份都会在油田附近活动。
"That’s adorable! I must get to the island tomorrow," says Weibo user "Katherine", who lives in Chengdu, some 1,200km (734 miles) away.
“太可爱了！我明天就要到岛上去。”家住离岛屿1200公里（734英里）外的成都博主“凯瑟琳”说。
But some others came up with a stalk warning: "Run now dear! I don’t want to see you at the Beihai fish market tomorrow," wrote one user, with a crying face emoticon attached.
然而其他一些网友则跟帖警告：“亲爱的快跑！我可不希望明天在北海鱼市上看到你。”一位网友写道，并附上一个大哭的表情。
On 7 May, new pictures were published by a few others, showing a huge dead shark hanging from a crane on the dockside.
5月7日，网上新发布的图片中可以看到一只身形巨大的死鲨鱼在码头边上被起重机吊起。
Comments exploded online, with many shouting "call the police" and assuming it was the same shark. One user wrote: "It’s too cruel! Enough is enough!"
网上评论炸开了锅，很多人嚷嚷着要“报警”并认为和之前照片中的是同一头鲨鱼。一位网友写道：“太残忍了！适可而止吧！”
A crying Feifei Li wrote: "It just felt curious and came by to take a look. Why does it deserve that?"
“痛苦的李菲菲”写道：“它只是感到好奇游过来看一眼，为什么就落得如此下场？”
"No wonder these fishes are not coming anymore. You come again, you got killed again. What for?" said a user named Xiao Jun.
“难怪这些鱼儿再也不过来了。来一次杀一次，图啥？”另一位网友小军写道。
Already dead’
“已经死亡”
A Beihai police officer said on Tuesday that the two detained suspects - named as Mr Liao and Mr Huang - had told them the shark already dead and decomposing when they caught it, according to the semi-official China News Service (CNS) agency.
本周二，北海一位警官称，两位被拘留的嫌疑犯-廖某和黄某-告诉警方，他们抓到鲨鱼时，它早已死亡而且腐臭，据半官方中国新闻社报道。
They are now detained on suspicion of "illegal acquisition of rare or endangered animal", said the police, and could face imprisonment of 10 years or more if convicted.
警方称他们现在涉嫌“非法收购珍贵、濒危动物”而被拘留，若定罪，可能面临十年或十年以上监禁。
The investigation is still ongoing, CNS reported.
据中国新闻社报道，该调查仍在进行中。
A Beihai police official told the BBC they had nothing to add to the report.
一位北海警方人员告诉BBC他们对该报道没有进一步补充。
Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world, and can grow to a length of more than 13m (40ft).
鲸鲨是全世界最大的鱼类，能够长到13米长（40英尺）。
They are on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). China also lists the species under Category Two of its national list of protected wild animals, making it illegal to hunt and trade.
鲸鲨被列入《世界自然保护联盟》(IUCN)濒危物种红色名录，是中国国家二级保护动物，因而在中国捕猎和贩卖鲸鲨是违法的。
The Beihai municipal committee of the Communist Party also announced on Tuesday it was investigating the city’s fishery chief Chen Quanbiao for "serious violation of discipline", a synonym for corruption in China.
北海市党委周二宣布，该市渔监部门领导陈全标因“严重违纪”接受调查，在中国这意味着贪污腐败。
It was not possible to tell whether Mr Chen’s removal had any connection to the shark incident, but local state media reported he had been asked to comment on the incident just a day before he was put under investigation.
虽然不能证明陈某的落马和鲸鲨事件是否有关联，但当地媒体报道他在接受调查前一天曾被问道对该事件的看法。
