All language subtitles for Sharks.of.the.Bermuda.Triangle.2020.1080p.WEBRip.x265

NARRATOR: It's one million
square miles of mystery,

filled with myths and legends

and astonishing
deep-sea creatures.

MAN: There seems to be
all these unique anomalies

within this part
of the Caribbean.

NARRATOR: From magnetic fields
to strange geography

and bizarre weather,

it's the site of
countless disasters.

But something is driving some
of the world's deadliest sharks

to the Caribbean's
mysterious depths.

And one man wants to know why.

What he finds may
change what we know...

MAN: This type of footage has
never been documented before.

This is just insane.

NARRATOR: ...about
Sharks of the Bermuda Triangle.

The Bermuda Triangle.

An enigma wrapped in tales of
lost planes and sunken ships.

MAN: Mayday, mayday, mayday.

NARRATOR: But the Bermuda
Triangle's biggest mystery

may be its sharks.

What's attracting them here,

and why are they diving to
the Triangle's deepest regions?

♪ ♪

AUSTIN GALLAGHER:
We do have some acoustic tags.

NARRATOR: Marine biologist
and shark expert

Dr. Austin Gallagher
has devoted his career

to unraveling the relationship
between ocean predators

and ecosystems like
the Bermuda Triangle.

As chief scientist and founder

of the non-profit
Beneath the Waves,

he believes there is something
unusual happening right here.

GALLAGHER: Throughout
my studies, I've learned

that tiger sharks spend
a lot of time on the surface,

and using these waters
to hunt air-breathing animals

like turtles and birds.

But here, tiger sharks don't
seem to be doing that at all.

In fact, they don't seem to be

spending any time
at the surface.

Tiger shark behavior here
is really weird.

I've never seen
anything like it.

NARRATOR: The Bermuda Triangle

is often linked with stories

of unique magnetic forces,

confusing compass readings,

and mysterious disappearances.

JOE ROMEIRO: There's always
some kind of lore about ships

that couldn't find themselves,
or planes that have been lost,

and with these
magnetic anomalies,

you can see that, if sharks are
truly using magnetic sources

to find one place to the other,

then this place is
unique to that.

GALLAGHER: For scientists,
it's kind of fun

to go into these places and try
to understand what's going on.

The animals look
healthier and stronger

than anywhere I've ever seen.

ROMEIRO: That triangle
is basically

right smack in the middle

of a huge migratory route

for almost every shark species
in the Atlantic.

So within the Triangle, there's
always been a lot of thought

of being this mysterious
magnetic pole.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Rumors of
magnetic anomalies

have long plagued
the Bermuda Triangle.

The most famous
of these incidents

is the disappearance
of Flight 19.

In 1945, five Navy bombers
took off on a training mission

from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The squadron leader reported
that both of his compasses

stopped working and
their position was unknown.

When they didn't return,

a search and rescue plane
took off,

but it, too, vanished.

From magnetic vortexes
to alien interference,

there have been many theories

to explain the disappearances
within the Bermuda Triangle.

Today, scientists believe
it's not supernatural forces

at work, only natural ones.

But when it comes to sharks,

something unusual
is happening here.

GALLAGHER: Let's be honest,

the Bermuda Triangle
is just kind of weird,

and a little freaky.

Interestingly enough,

some of the wildest and
strongest animals on our planet

really do prefer to be found
in some of these spots.

NARRATOR: The target of
Dr. Gallagher's research

is Rose Island,

an 11-mile spit of land

surrounded by
underwater trenches.

These waters offer limited
food sources for sharks,

and yet still
attract them here,

including one of the ocean's
great apex predators,

the tiger shark.

GALLAGHER: Tiger sharks
really do rule Rose Island.

They are the true knights
of this area.

There's a good chance that
the Bermuda Triangle is emitting

electromagnetic cues
that could be aggregating

these large tiger sharks
in the water.

NARRATOR: Tiger sharks are one
of the largest, most aggressive

species in these waters
and the world,

growing up to 24 feet,

weighing up to
a whopping 3,100 pounds.

Unlike great white sharks,
known to be notoriously picky,

tiger sharks have been known
to eat nearly anything

they encounter;
even other sharks.

YANNIS PAPASTAMATIOU:
What kind of makes them unique

from other sharks is
a very, very broad diet.

Probably the broadest diet
of any species of shark.

And part of the reason that
they have such a broad diet

is A) because of their size,

but also because they have some
pretty unique-shaped teeth,

and those teeth are really good

at sawing through things
that are hard.

So that really sort of extends
the number of prey items

that they can try to consume.

ROMEIRO: It's the largest
predatory fish

in tropical waters.

Its basic job is cleanup crew
for the ocean.

Anything that's dead,
dying, diseased, or dumb

falls under a tiger shark's
category for prey.

NARRATOR: And why all the
activity here at Rose Island?

Dr. Gallagher believes this
is part of a major highway

along the tiger sharks'
annual migration.

ROMEIRO: A lot of what we know
about sharks and their migration

is based on magnetic fields.

We believe that sharks follow
along these corridors,

up and down these areas, trying
to find their way around things,

but usually use these islands,
and certain magnetic barriers,

as sort of a map to get
from one place to the other.

GALLAGHER: Our hypothesis is
that these animals are using

habitats just north
of Rose Island

for some type of
important purpose.

There's a big drop-off,
so it goes from really shallow,

20, 30 feet, to over 1,000 feet,

and really what our objective is
on this trip

is to find these tiger sharks

and tag them with some
cutting-edge technologies

to help us understand if they
are using these deep areas

and why they might be
doing that.

NARRATOR: For Dr. Gallagher,

unraveling this mystery
of the Bermuda Triangle,

the link between tiger sharks
and Rose Island,

may all depend on one
particular shark named Mabel.

GALLAGHER: Mabel is
a 12-foot tiger shark

that I first met
in February 2008.

WOMAN: Okay, which way
do you want to go?

GALLAGHER: And oftentimes
when you tag a shark,

you pretty much expect
to never see it again.

With Mabel it was
a different story.

WOMAN: No, no, get someone
to measure down on the tail!

MAN: Got it.

GALLAGHER: We actually
caught her again

six months later
at the same spot.

At that point, we put in
an acoustic tag

so we could track her movements.

And what we've learned is that
she really loves Rose Island,

but she's only at the surface
for short periods of time.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: Dr. Gallagher
has been watching

Mabel's acoustic pings closely.

He knows her patterns.

GALLAGHER: We don't know exactly
where Mabel has been

in between her transmissions,

but based on
connecting the dots,

we can infer that she might
have been in the deep trench

right off of Rose Island.

These animals are always trying
to conserve their energy

and go to areas where they know
that something important

is happening, whether
it's a food source,

maybe it's where they want
to give birth to their babies,

or maybe it's where
they want to go mate

to sustain their populations.

The first thing
we really need to do

is just do a little check-in
with the sharks.

We gotta get eyes on them.

If we can make some
preliminary observations

on these tiger sharks,
it might help inform

what the next step of
our research might be.

NARRATOR: Joining Dr. Gallagher
on this expedition

is marine biologist
Oliver Shipley,

an expert in
shark feeding dynamics.

OLIVER SHIPLEY: The reason that
we wanna make the chunks

nice and small
is 'cause sometimes

you can actually
overfeed the sharks

and then they swim off.

MAN: Tiger! Woo!

NARRATOR: It doesn't take long

before the first
tiger shark arrives.

GALLAGHER:
Pretty exciting moment here.

We got a tiger shark circling
the boat, which is awesome.

We're gonna keep it
interested here,

so that'll be great if we can
keep the shark around.

We're gonna get
in the water now,

try to take a look at
what's really going on

with these tigers.

-MAN: You on?
-GALLAGHER: Yep.

SHIPLEY: It's always
a little bit apprehensive.

There's a few nerves before
you get in the water

with a big shark
like a tiger shark.

GALLAGHER: Alright, boys,
remember what I said?

Eye contact with the shark
at all times.

You know, be respectful.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: They use
plastic sticks

to keep the sharks
at a safe distance.

And they soon spot
an intriguing clue.

♪ ♪

This female tiger shark has
fresh bite marks on her body;

a possible lead

on what's driving tiger sharks
to Rose Island.

GALLAGHER: Cluing in
on these little observations,

like mating scars,
is really the first step

in trying to uncover
this puzzle.

PAPASTAMATIOU: We can get
a lot of information

from the presence
of fresh mating scars.

ROMEIRO: If it's something
usually fresh,

we know that the mating process
took place

somewhat around the area.

So we start to get an idea
of where these areas are.

NARRATOR: Now, in their search
for Mabel,

Dr. Gallagher and his team
set drum lines,

a series of baited hooks.

GALLAGHER: So you can actually
see, looking out here,

that we have all of our drum
lines in this nice, long line.

Basically serves as a nice net,

so if there's any tiger sharks
in the area,

they can sort of smell our bait

and then we start reeling
the shark in during a tagging.

So we're really setting up
this awesome fence almost,

for tiger sharks
to come find us.

It can take as little
as five minutes,

or as many as five hours.

We really don't know
until we bring it up,

which makes that moment
really exciting for us,

'cause you never know.

It's like, you know,
the lottery every time.

You don't know if
you're gonna win or not.

There's something on this,
I think.

It's a tiger. Woo!

MAN: This one looks good.

GALLAGHER: Oh, boy.

NARRATOR:
Then, after nearly an hour...

MAN: It's swimming like a tiger.
It's a tiger.

NARRATOR: There's a bite.

GALLAGHER:
Got a beautiful tiger shark.

Oh, my god!

NARRATOR: But is it Mabel?

MAN: Woo!

Oh! Oh, tail.

♪ ♪

MAN: It's a tiger.

Oh!

NARRATOR: Dr. Austin Gallagher
caught a tiger shark

in the Bermuda Triangle,
but it's not Mabel.

It's a 12-foot-long,
sexually mature male.

GALLAGHER: Hold it. Don't let
it run, don't let it run.

Do not let it run.

Guys, this is a really strong
shark. Okay.

NARRATOR: Finding a male tiger
shark may mean one thing:

it's mating season.

GALLAGHER: It's rare that
you see a large male shark

of any species in an area
where there's a lot of females.

When we saw him, it only
supported our theory

that they might be mating here.

No, that's good, that's good.

NARRATOR: In the Bahamas,
female tiger sharks

seem to prefer the company
of their own gender.

Some scientists speculate
that as a group,

it's easier for
female tiger sharks

to fend off unwanted
sexual advances from males.

MAN: Hang on, hang on, hang on.

MAN: Is this good?

MAN: Yeah, that's fine,
tie it off.

And then come in, Mo,
and like hold.

PAPASTAMATIOU: When you look at
the distribution of sharks,

we have what's called
sexual segregation,

which means that you find males
and females in different areas.

One popular explanation is that
females are avoiding males

outside of these mating periods.

So it makes sense that if
she doesn't want to reproduce

at that point, that she avoids

that sort of mating behavior
altogether.

And that may explain why you see
females in separate areas

from where you find the males.

NARRATOR: With pregnancies
that last up to 16 months,

the female tiger sharks only
mate once every three years.

When females are ready to mate,
it's believed that they let

the male tiger sharks know
by releasing pheromones.

If so, this male has
likely caught a scent

and is on the search
for a receptive female.

GALLAGHER:
That shark is definitely

one of the breeding males.

There's few of them.

Here we go, boys.

-MAN: Watch the head.
-MAN: Yeah.

GALLAGHER:
Alright, I'll take the tag.

NARRATOR: Dr. Gallagher
attaches a satellite tag

to the shark's dorsal fin.

MAN: Yep, it's coming,
it's coming.

Keep going, keep going.
Nice, nice.

GALLAGHER:
Satellite tags are awesome.

One of my favorite tools.

These offer scientists like us
the chance to collect

high-resolution data
on the sharks

without us having
to follow them.

NARRATOR: The tag remains
attached to the shark,

recording vital information,

including location, depth
and water temperatures.

After several weeks,
the tag will pop off,

float to the surface

and transmit all the data
to a satellite.

GALLAGHER: Being able to get
a male with the tag on it

that will actually reveal its
depth preferences and locations,

could actually help us pinpoint

exactly where these
animals are going to.

So that's really valuable for
our larger questions here,

about mating,
vertical habitat use

and interactions between
males and females.

So, getting a male
is actually huge for us.

Tag's in, fin clip.

See, I'm taking
a little fin clip here.

Fin clip. Pass it to Jill.

NARRATOR: To study the genetic
diversity of these tiger sharks

in the Bermuda Triangle,

Dr. Gallagher clips
the dorsal fin

for blood and tissue samples.

GALLAGHER: These are gonna
provide invaluable insights

into the genetics
and the hormones

and stress levels
of these animals.

Oh, he's ready to go.

These are pieces of the puzzle
that we're gonna put together

to understand how valuable the
Bermuda Triangle is for sharks.

Okay, good?

MAN: Yeah.

MAN: You ready, guys?

GALLAGHER:
Push him right that way.

Beautiful!

Nicely done, guys.

Wow, that's a huge shark.

Woo! Whoa! Yes!

That was amazing!

Woo!

NARRATOR: But there's still
no sign of Mabel

around Rose Island.

Mabel's acoustic tag should be
constantly sending pings,

but so far, there's no signal.

GALLAGHER: The great thing is
that tag lasts

for up to seven years,
sending a uniquely coded ping

with that shark's
identification number out.

We download the data and
then we can construct a map

of how the shark uses
the waters of the Bahamas.

So she's kind of gone AWOL.

She's probably down
in the deep trench,

right to the north side
of the island.

This is corroborated
by our acoustic data.

NARRATOR:
The Bermuda Triangle contains

some of the deepest trenches
in the world.

The Puerto Rico Trench, at
the Triangle's southern point,

reaches depths
of over 27,000 feet.

But Dr. Gallagher suspects
that Mabel may frequent

the Tongue of the Ocean,
a steep, underwater trench,

less than a mile away
from Rose Island.

The deepest branch of
the Great Bahama Canyon,

it's named for its shape
that's like a tongue.

GALLAGHER: The Tongue of
the Ocean drops off steeply,

just half a mile or so offshore.

It goes from about 30 feet to
300 to thousands really quickly.

We really have no idea
what's going on

down in the deep trenches here.

Anything could be happening
in the deep sea.

It's one of the final frontiers
for human exploration,

even more interesting, in my
opinion, than exploring space.

ROMEIRO:
So, animals of all sorts

can live within this trench,

and it seems like there's
reports of all kinds

of different creatures living
within the Tongue of the Ocean.

It's sort of become
this legendary spot.

NARRATOR: If Mabel is
in the Bermuda trenches,

she may not be alone.

Once thought to be a barren
zone with few life-forms

able to sustain themselves
without the sun's light,

marine biologists have
discovered that the deep waters

of the Bermuda Triangle
are home to other sharks,

from the megamouth
to the sharpnose sevengill.

Among the diverse
shark population

in the depths of
the Bermuda Triangle,

one small shark stands out
for its audacious attacks.

The cookie cutter shark.

A terrifying shark with
a deceptively sweet name.

PAPASTAMATIOU: Cookie cutters
have very distinctive teeth.

The teeth are actually
fused together.

Each individual tooth
is fused together,

unlike what you see
with other sharks.

NARRATOR: This rarely
photographed shark

makes dramatic
vertical migrations.

During the day, it dwells
in depths of over 3,000 feet,

but at night, it rises up
over 2,000 feet to hunt.

PAPASTAMATIOU: If you look
on the underside

of a cookie cutter shark,

it actually has cells
that produce light,

what's called bioluminescence.

ROMEIRO: When a predator sees
the bioluminescence

in the water, it goes over there

to see if anything's
been disturbed.

A cookie cutter shark uses
this opportunity to latch on

to the side of these predators
and take a bite from it.

NARRATOR: The cookie cutter
only grows to 20 inches,

yet has the audacity
to attack whales, tuna,

even great white sharks.

The proof is in
the telltale injury

the cookie cutter
leaves on its victim:

a hole in the skin about
the size and shape of a cookie.

ROMEIRO: If you ever looked
at how they get cookie dough

out of something,
it's with a scoop,

and that's basically
what these sharks do.

They have this jaw structure
that can latch on to the side

of an animal and, like,
scoop out a piece of flesh.

NARRATOR: The cookie cutter
shark spends its days

deep in the ocean,
but even at shallower depths,

these sharks can be extremely
difficult to locate.

Tiger sharks are no strangers
to these depths.

They routinely swim over
1,000 feet below the surface.

If Mabel is diving
into the trenches,

it's impossible to know
how deep she's going or why.

To find her, it's a game
of cat and mouse.

Her acoustic tag emits a noise
that can be picked up

with a hydrophone; a device
like an underwater mic,

embedded in the ocean floor.

But the transmitter cuts out
at 1,000 feet,

so they must wait for her
to swim closer to the surface.

GALLAGHER: We have
about 100 sharks tagged

around Nassau and
New Providence here,

with these internal transmitters
that send out acoustic signals

every minute and a half or so.

So they're being picked up
by receivers,

but while we're actually
on the boat,

I'm gonna put this transducing
hydrophone in the water here.

We can listen for
the sharks in the area,

just to check to see if
anyone's around, like Mabel.

(static)

Well, we know she's here,

so we're increasing
our odds of finding her.

I mean, we could be
searching anywhere here.

We picked Rose Island because
we know this is her hot spot.

This is where Mabel lives.

I think we have a good chance
of finding her now.

(static)

(pinging)

We got something.

Oh, my god.

♪ ♪

(pinging)

GALLAGHER: You hear that?

(pinging)

Guys, it's Mabel, 22689, she's
right around the boat right now.

This is amazing!

NARRATOR: Dr. Austin Gallagher
continues his search for Mabel,

a tiger shark in
the Bermuda Triangle.

She may be close,

but luring her to the boat
is another challenge.

GALLAGHER: Really, what we need
to do is bait up the area

with her likely favorite food,

which we like to think
is barracuda.

Cross our fingers, hope for
a little bit of luck,

and see what happens.

Yeah, that looks looking good.

MAN: There's something on it.

GALLAGHER: Okay, we got a shark.

Here we go, boys, here we go.

Yeah, Mo, I like that.

She's a pretty large individual.

NARRATOR:
It's a large nurse shark.

GALLAGHER: Yeah, we got
a good size nurse shark here.

This is a real diverse area,

so nurse sharks, tiger sharks,
lemons, bulls.

We're doing a measurement
right now.

We're doing
the precaudal length, 155.

WOMAN: 155.

GALLAGHER: Fork length, 174.

Now I'm doing the spaghetti tag.

There, spaghetti tag's in.

Nice!

Woo! Nicely done.

That was great.

NARRATOR: Then, Dr. Gallagher
and his team

continue their search
for Mabel.

MAN: Grab the gaff,
grab the gaff, grab the gaff.

NARRATOR: Soon, they hook
another shark.

GALLAGHER:
Can I have the gloves?

See how this line is trembling?

Oh, my god, it's big.
Is that a hammerhead?

NARRATOR: It's a big one.

MAN: It's a hammer!
It's a freakin' hammer!

GALLAGHER: Beautiful hammerhead.

Wow!

Oh!

Watch it, it's trying to run.

This is a huge hammerhead.

Alright, we need to cable it.

MAN: Cable it?

GALLAGHER: Yeah, we're
gonna have to cable it.

NARRATOR: Despite the odd shape
of their heads,

hammerhead sharks
have an advantage

when it comes to tracking prey.

Their wide head is lined with
the ampullae of Lorenzini,

electroreceptors that pick up
movement of potential prey,

and their eyes have excellent
binocular vision,

allowing them
to detect stingrays

hiding in the sand below

and potential prey
swimming above.

GALLAGHER: Watch it, watch
your hands, it's gonna run.

MAN: It's just heavy.

Oh!

GALLAGHER:
Not all of it, not all of it.

And we need to move fast

so we get the shark back,
released quickly, okay?

NARRATOR: Hammerheads are
susceptible to stress.

For the animal's health,
they must be quick.

GALLAGHER:
What it's gonna try to do

is ram its hammer into the boat.

That's bad.

Let's get a quick measurement
and let's move fast, okay?

Quick measurement, let's go.

NARRATOR: There's no time
to waste.

GALLAGHER: Let's go, measure,
measure, measure!

Spaghetti tag.

Do the spaghetti.

It's gotta happen now,
you can't wait, let's go.

MAN: Needle!

NARRATOR: For the animal's
sake, and their own,

they must be very careful.

GALLAGHER: Good?

Okay, Mo, it's over.

Get everything off,
get everything off.

MAN: Adrian, give me slack!
Slack, slack, slack!

GALLAGHER: Move back, Andre,
I'm gonna push him towards you.

Move everything back, let go.

Let go, let go!

Yes!

Nice healthy release.

Really good.

Really, really good.

It's this huge predator,
it's insane.

It's actually the first one
I've seen off New Providence.

It's just the Ferrari
of the ocean, unreal.

I'm really tired.

It's the first hammerhead
I've seen in a long time.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: The diversity of
sharks in the Bermuda Triangle

goes far beyond what
Dr. Gallagher and his team

encounter close to the surface.

Deep within the ocean, amazing
sharks we rarely encounter

are thriving
in surprising ways.

One of the most ingenious
is the deep-sea sawshark.

Under 3 feet long,

its saw-like nose is about
one third of its length.

ROMEIRO: It rakes
along the sand,

trying to find different
crustaceans and shrimp

that live within the sand.

It can sit there and hit
prey items out of the water,

press it against the sand,

and then it will roll those
items right into its mouth.

It's a unique feeding behavior
for an animal,

and especially for a shark.

NARRATOR: Despite its
chainsaw-wielding appearance,

the Bahamas sawshark
is harmless.

It lives at depths
of nearly 3,000 feet.

ROMEIRO: Not much is known
about the sawshark.

It buries itself in the sand,
it's highly illusive,

and it's just one of those
sharks you don't see a lot of.

NARRATOR: The Bahamas sawshark
is still a mystery.

And it's not alone.

From rarely seen sharks in
the Bermuda Triangle's depths,

to tiger sharks that dive deep
for unknown reasons,

Dr. Gallagher is determined
to uncover the truth.

MAN: Big tiger!

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
From vicious carnivores

to bizarre bottom feeders,

the Bermuda Triangle is home

to hundreds of shark species.

And one of the strangest
lives in its deep seas:

the ghost shark.

Its appearance is otherworldly,

with a face that looks
stitched together

like a fishy Frankenstein.

In reality, the stitches
are sensory organs

that pick up the slightest
movement of potential prey.

Its bizarre appearance includes
a sex organ on its head.

ROMEIRO: Its sex organ
actually has claspers on it

and it can lock into females,
and then when finished,

it can retract back
into its body.

NARRATOR: Female ghost sharks

don't immediately
become pregnant.

They may even wait for years
before making use of the sperm.

ROMEIRO: In the deep sea it's
believed that it's very hard

for ghost sharks to find
each other to mate.

So the female can actually
store sperm in her body

till she's ready.

NARRATOR: Female tiger sharks
can also store sperm

for months, waiting until
they're ready to ovulate.

Dr. Gallagher hopes to catch
Mabel before she mates.

GALLAGHER: Part of it is kind of
a needle in a haystack.

Certainly luck plays a role.

She really loves Rose Island,

but she's only at the surface
for short periods of time.

NARRATOR:
While scanning the sea,

Dr. Gallagher and his crew
must also watch the skies.

Hurricane season's
only days away.

Tropical storms can sweep
through the Triangle,

wreaking havoc on land and sea.

GALLAGHER: This time of the
year, it can be really stormy,

thunderstorms can
come in quickly,

and it can go from
zero to 60 real fast.

(thunder)

NARRATOR: Severe storms
and looming hurricanes

may be why so many ships
and planes seem to vanish

in the Bermuda Triangle.

In 2015, the El Faro,
a cargo ship, disappeared.

30 days later,
the El Faro was discovered

at the bottom of
the Bermuda Triangle.

Many believe Hurricane Joaquin
was to blame.

Some experts believe
tiger sharks may be seeking

deeper waters to take shelter

from the Bermuda Triangle's
violent storms.

How do the sharks know
bad weather's on its way?

ROMEIRO: The lateral line
systems are these two lines

that follow along
a shark's body,

that will actually detect
pressure systems in the water.

It's this sixth sense
that sharks have.

GALLAGHER: Weather plays
a huge role in what sharks do.

We know that the weather
can profoundly shape

the habitat use of sharks.

We know from other studies
that big storms like hurricanes

can actually push sharks
outside of the area

for temporary periods of time.

NARRATOR: A tropical hurricane
can kill anything in its way.

To survive, sharks in this part
of the Bermuda Triangle

must be ready to take refuge
in deeper, undisturbed waters.

Each year, massive hurricanes
brewing in the Atlantic

tear through the Triangle.

A hurricane's driving winds and
towering waves churn the ocean,

mixing water temperatures
and salinity into currents

that reach up to 300 feet
below the surface.

GALLAGHER: It can be bright,
sunny, clear skies one minute

and the next you could be
caught in a squall

with torrential downpour
and even lightning,

but you never know
what you're gonna get,

and it kind of adds an element
of sort of surprise

and a little bit of danger
to the work as well,

because we're out here
in the elements.

NARRATOR: For Dr. Gallagher
and his team,

the skies remain clear.

They continue to monitor their
drum line in search of Mabel.

GALLAGHER: We know she's
in the area pretty close,

so now what we're doing
is we're actually trying

to get some bait
in the water now.

The boys are getting
the stuff out there,

so we can maximize our chance
of trying to recapture her,

start learning more
about what she's doing.

MAN: That's a big one.

Big tiger!

GALLAGHER: Okay, guys,
let's get into gear here.

NARRATOR: And soon, another
shark takes the bait.

GALLAGHER: A little bit of
slack, a little bit of slack.

MAN: A little bit
of slack on that, okay?

GALLAGHER: That's it, that's it.

MAN: That's good, that's good,
that's good, that's great.

This is amazing.

NARRATOR: This time
it is Mabel.

GALLAGHER:
Okay, wow, we got Mabel here.

NARRATOR: Dr. Austin Gallagher
is exploring

one of the Bermuda Triangle's
many mysteries.

The unknown shark behavior
near its deep trenches.

GALLAGHER: Beautiful shark.

We're just gonna see
how big she is,

it's been a while
since we've seen her.

Okay.

Alright, guys,
lean back a little bit.

MAN: Hold on, hold on.

GALLAGHER: We're gonna hook her
up with some new jewelry,

and this means new
cutting-edge tags.

We have camera tags and
a new type of satellite tag

that we'd love to put on Mabel.

NARRATOR: Straining
to keep Mabel still,

Dr. Gallagher removes
the old tags,

replacing them with
satellite transmitters

that will record her depths,
temperatures and locations.

MAN: Let me work the leader and
just hold the dorsal fin, okay?

NARRATOR: He's also attached
a camera tag.

GALLAGHER:
It's gonna go deep quick.

Mabel looked amazing.

Got a new tag on her.

What an amazing moment.

NARRATOR: The camera will film
Mabel's journeys for 24 hours.

It will then pop off,
float to the surface,

and send a location ping
for retrieval.

GALLAGHER: Now that our
technologies are allowing us

to go deeper and farther
than ever before,

we're seeing new species,
new behaviors and new things

that are wonderful
and really inspiring.

Guys, that was awesome.

MAN: That was insane.

(laughs)

NARRATOR: Dr. Gallagher has no
idea how deep Mabel may dive.

In the trenches,
sunlight is only visible

in the euphotic zone,

up to 650 feet below
the ocean's surface.

Beyond that,
in the dysphotic zone,

only a small amount of sunlight
reaches beyond 650 feet.

Any life-form this deep must be
equipped to hunt or breed

with little visibility.

GALLAGHER: Some species
of deep-sea sharks

do have really advanced vision.

Tiger sharks also have
a specialized ocular structure

that allows them to detect
shadows and silhouettes

a little bit better
than other species.

The Tongue of the Ocean
probably has

some of these
deep-sea-dwelling animals,

such as other small sharks,
squid, crustaceans,

and maybe even marine mammals.

These slow-moving animals
in the deep sea

could provide an attractive
and cheaper food source

for these sharks to exploit.

NARRATOR: In the trenches, not
all sharks are apex predators.

Some are just as likely
to be prey.

One shark,
unique to the region,

is well protected by its own
dental suit of armor.

The Caribbean roughshark is
named for its course skin.

As with all sharks,

the rough shark is covered
with dermal denticles;

small, tooth-like projections,
coated in enamel.

These denticles protect

the nearly two-foot shark
from predators.

It lives deep in the Bahamas'
upper continental slopes

where, like most fish,

it is both predator
and potentially prey.

♪ ♪

Back on the research ship,
it's been 24 hours.

Dr. Gallagher and his crew
get the signal.

Mabel's camera is
ready to retrieve.

GALLAGHER: One of our team
members actually went out

this morning and
recollected the camera tag

that popped off Mabel.

And we actually have
this information

on this hard drive right here.

We're gonna plug it in and see
what this shark's been up to

for the last day or so.

These camera tags
are just amazing.

They can tell us so much
about how the shark is using

its environment, where it's
swimming, how it's moving.

It is a little risky, though,

because you have to go out
and recover this tag,

so when we get this data,

it's just so valuable,
it's like Christmas morning.

So can't wait to
open up this file

and see what Mabel's been up to.

NARRATOR: Dr. Gallagher
wants to know

if Mabel is returning to
the nearby trenches and why.

GALLAGHER: So it looks like
the camera tag was turned on

just as we released her,
which is great.

You can actually see her
swimming down

right into the sea grass,

right off the south side
of Rose Island.

Yep, she's swimming pretty slow.

Tiger sharks are actually known
to be pretty lazy.

And here we have just
a day in the life

of a mature female tiger shark
in the Bahamas.

When I fast forward the clip
to about two, three hours later,

I can see that she's in
a completely different habitat.

Uh, she's in the blue now.

She's in the open ocean

and she's starting to swim
a little faster.

You see that her gills
are opening and closing

as the water comes through.

That's actually pretty cool

that we can see our handprint
on her head there.

Tiger sharks actually have a
small slime layer on their skin

that protects them
from infection.

NARRATOR:
As Mabel dives deeper,

the image looks otherworldly.

GALLAGHER: There are
very few things that motivate

a 12-foot female tiger shark,

and it really just comes down
to food and mating.

Last time we saw Mabel,
she went completely AWOL.

We barely heard from her, and
it looked like she was spending

a lot of her time
in the open ocean areas,

just north of Rose Island,
where it drops off really deep.

This video already suggests that
this is what is truly happening.

Our depth sensor is telling us
that she's at about 100 meters

right now, which is
already at 300 feet.

She's starting to slow
her tail beat frequency.

This is really cool.

When tiger sharks go down,

they stop swimming,
so they can actually just sink.

It's an energy conservation
strategy,

and if Mabel's going to be
going down to deep waters

to potentially interact
with other sharks,

she needs to save up
as much energy as possible.

It's definitely some of
the coolest data I've ever got.

I have goose bumps right now,
just looking at this.

Pfff, wow.

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

Mabel is opening and closing her
mouth, and this is a social cue.

Mabel is calling for a mate
right now at about 400 feet.

Our infrared camera
is starting to kick in.

Okay, so now she's really going
into complete darkness.

-(clunk)
-Whoa!

NARRATOR: Then he sees it.

GALLAGHER: Wow, okay.

(clunk)

So, Mabel just got hit.

NARRATOR: Something no one
has ever seen before.

GALLAGHER: I'm just gonna
pause it and go back.

This is amazing.

So there's a lot of ideas
kind of flowing through my head

right now, what this could be.

(clunk)

GALLAGHER: I think Mabel is
calling for a mate right now,

at about 400 feet.

NARRATOR: After an intense
search for Mabel,

a tiger shark living
in the Bermuda Triangle,

Dr. Austin Gallagher
has finally tagged her

and retrieved the video
from her 24-hour camera.

As far as Dr. Gallagher knows,
this is the first time

anyone has captured
tiger shark behavior

in the trenches of
the Bermuda Triangle.

GALLAGHER: This is
the coolest data

that I have ever collected
in my career.

People have been putting camera
tags on sharks and animals

for many years now, but I don't
think they have ever seen

anything as cool as this.

NARRATOR: For Dr. Gallagher,

the footage is nothing
short of extraordinary.

GALLAGHER: Okay, wow. So Mabel
is doing a deep dive now.

You can see that she's going
just down along the edge.

And our depth sensor is now
reading about 800 feet,

so this is crazy.

I can't believe this.

It looks like I am seeing
the surface of a foreign planet.

These are deep water habitats
that humans can't go to.

Our infrared camera
is starting to kick in.

Okay, so now she's really going
into complete darkness.

So I think she was signaling
to a male previously,

and now she's at 1,000 feet.

This type of footage has
never been documented before.

-(clunk)
-Whoa!

So, Mabel just got hit.

NARRATOR: And then,
something incredible happens.

GALLAGHER: I'm just gonna
pause it and go back.

Something just moved Mabel

and pushed her over
to the entire side.

I'm actually seeing
the camera tag move as well,

slightly, kind of in response.

Okay, it just happened again,
like a whiplash.

(clunk)

And again.

So Mabel just got hit three
times from the left side, hard.

It looks like it moved her
about 3 feet to the right.

This is amazing.

So there's a lot of ideas
kind of flowing through my head

right now, what this could be.

I think that she just
got hit by that male.

I think she is experiencing
a mating attempt right now,

from a male.

Yeah, this is conclusive.

There's nothing else down
in the deep trench here

that could be moving
a large tiger shark like Mabel.

This is just insane.

I think we've
discovered something

truly groundbreaking here.

We may have just made a quantum
leap in our understanding

of shark biology,
just from this video.

PAPASTAMATIOU: No one has
ever seen tiger sharks

actually mating in the wild.

GALLAGHER: I think
that Mabel's data

and that from her relatives,
suggests that we have found

a conclusive mating area
for sharks,

here in the Tongue of the Ocean
in the Bahamas.

NARRATOR: If Mabel is any
indication of her species,

the oceanic trenches
of the Atlantic

may be the tiger sharks'
preferred mating location.

PAPASTAMATIOU: The reason
it's important is that

for wide-ranging animals
like tiger sharks,

it's gonna be impossible
to protect all the waters

that a tiger shark
will move through.

Instead, what we can try to do
is protect areas

that are really important

to the sort of life history
of that species.

ROMEIRO: Finding the
tiger sharks' mating grounds,

or the tiger sharks'
birthing sites,

are like finding the holy grail
within the science community.

If we know where
these areas are,

we can better protect
these areas

and thus protect these animals.

NARRATOR: Although
Dr. Gallagher's research

will continue,

this footage appears to reveal
something remarkable.

The Triangle's deep trenches

may be a hot spot
for tiger shark mating.

GALLAGHER: Some of the wildest
and strongest animals

on our planet really do
prefer to be found

in some of these crazy spots.

So it's not really
that surprising to me

that the largest predator
in tropical waters

really loves its home
in the Bermuda Triangle.

NARRATOR: With breakthrough
footage like this,

scientists like
Dr. Austin Gallagher

are shedding new light
on the secretive lives of...

Sharks of the Bermuda Triangle.

Captioned by
Side Door Media Services