Original subtitles

The Great Lakes have been invaded

and their fish are facing an inescapable attack

that threatens to decimate their populations.

Like aliens in a Hollywood horror film,

these slime covered parasitic predators

have squirmed their way in and are on the hunt for blood.

My mission is to find out whether or not these invaders

have a taste for humans.

And the only way to find out is to let myself

be eaten alive by sea lamprey.

To perform this nightmare of an experiment,

I have traveled to Millersburg, Michigan

where I will be working in conjunction with the Great

Lakes Fishery Commission and US Geological survey's

jointly managed Hammond Bay Biological Station.

These organizations are in the forefront of Great Lakes

research, control of invasive species

and restoration of native fish.

The Great Lakes are home to five different lamprey species,

four native and one invasive.

And as my luck would have it, you

can clearly see that this invader is also the biggest.

Sea lamprey originally entered the Great Lakes

from the Atlantic Ocean through a series of made shipping

canals in the mid-1800s.

Taking advantage of these human constructed waterways,

they eventually invaded all five of the Great Lakes.

Without any predators or population control at the time,

sea lamprey numbers exploded.

And by the early 1960s, the fishing industry

was devastated, taking the yearly Great Lakes harvest

from 15 million pounds of fish to a mere 300,000

pounds of fish.

This is a perfect example of how destructive and invasive

species can be.

And while it's clear that they are a threat to fish,

do they pose a threat to humans?

It's a beautiful sunny morning and it

feels like the perfect day for an eaten alive episode here

on the Brave Wilderness channel.

Now before me is a 50 gallon aquarium filled

with close to 100 sea lamprey.

I know what you guys are all thinking, Coyote, hold on.

Hold on a second.

Are you telling me you're going to place your arms

into this aquarium with these fish that will suction

onto you, maybe shred your skin and then drink

your blood and bodily fluids?

Yeah, guys that's exactly what we want to try to figure out

today.

Now what exactly is a sea lamprey?

Is it an eel?

Is it a fish?

Is it an alien?

Well, I could tell you this much they're certainly alien looking

but no they are not aliens.

And while their body structure may

really make them look like eels, they're not eels either.

They are in fact fish, a primitive species of fish.

The lineage of these creatures dates back 340 million years,

which means that they were here before the time of dinosaurs

and they survived beyond the dinosaurs.

In fact, they have survived four extinction events.

How crazy is that.

And what makes them a primitive fish?

That's a great question they're not like other fishes.

They don't have any bones in their body

but in fact their structure is made out of cartilage.

They don't have a swim bladder.

They don't have any pairs of fins

and they don't even have proper jaws.

They're considered parasitic predators.

I may say, perfectly designed parasitic predators

and they're primarily feast upon fish.

The thing that's most unique about these primitive creatures

is in fact their mouth structure.

So let's crouch down here for a second

and get down beneath the water's surface and take a closer look.

You'll see the way that they are suctioning to the glass.

One of the most unique aspects is what's

known as the sectorial disk.

They don't actually have jaws, like I stated earlier,

but they have the ability to suction onto different things.

Glass is a perfect surface they can also hold on to rocks.

But when they're searching for their prey,

which of course, is fish they're capable of suctioning on.

And then let me paint you a really horrific story this is

almost like a Hollywood B film.

When these suction onto the side of the fish,

their mouth is malleable.

And within that malleable mouth they have close to 150 cone

shaped needle sharp teeth.

Those teeth anchor into place.

And then right in the center of their mouth

is this razor sharp rasping tongue.

They rub that tongue over the scales,

through them into the skin and eventually

into the fish's flesh where they then drink the blood

and the bodily fluids.

If you're a fish swimming around the Great Lakes

and you get hooked up to with a lamprey,

you were alive when they begin to eat you.

So got to have a little bit of respect

for these primitive creatures.

These perfectly designed parasitic predators

have taken a massive toll on the native fish species.

In fact, during the lifetime of an individual lamprey,

they can kill up to 40 pounds of fish.

For every seven fish attacked by sea lamprey,

only a single one manages to survive.

Their top sense is their ability to smell their prey.

They don't have really great eyesight.

In fact, they're usually most active at night.

But when I place my arms down into the water,

they're definitely going to smell any scent

coming off of my flesh.

That's fair to say that I'm not a fish

but I'm certainly full of nice warm delicious blood.

Are they hungry?

They definitely look hungry.

So if you guys are ready, I'm Coyote Peterson.

And I'm about to enter the bite zone with the sea lamprey.

Here we go.

One, two.

This is it, three.

Ooh, that water is cold.

Oh, one just rub right up against me.

Oh boy, they are slimy.

How about I'm going to try to do is keep my hands and arms

and ooh they're squirming around while they are slimy.

I'm going to try to keep my arms in here for at least

a minute and 30 seconds.

Oh, they're going right towards my arms.

Man, this brings some flashbacks of the leeches.

When I did eaten alive by leeches,

they swim around my arms, brushing

up against them just like this.

Eventually found me, suctioned on and induced a bite.

And they're swimming back and forth,

they definitely detect that I'm here.

Oh, that is a very, very eerie feeling.

Slimy bodies rubbing up against me.

I don't even want to look down.

Right now I'm just thinking about those sectorial disks

lashing out to my arms.

Those teeth grappling and then that raspy tongue

cutting into my skin.

But thus far, they're really just swimming around me.

It's interesting because the warm blood in my body,

I feel like would definitely be able to be detected.

Then again you have to think about the fact

that fish are cold blooded.

So maybe warm blood is not something that they

would necessarily be after.

All right.

We're going to up the ante on me being bitten.

I'm going to actually push my arms into the piles of lamprey.

Wow, that's crazy.

That is a really strange feeling.

All that slime.

Wow.

Man, I feel like I've got my arms

into the mouth of an alien right now, all slippery and slimy.

I'm actually just moving my fingers around on the lamprey

and they're just swimming right through my fingers.

There's the opportunity for them to feast right here.

Come on, guys.

I'm good.

I'm telling you, this is good blood right here.

Aren't you interested?

This is the Coyote Peterson buffet you're on.

Wow.

At this point, my hands have been in here for close

to two minutes.

Absolutely no bite.

I'm actually grabbing piles of lamprey

and coupling them together and all they are doing

is swimming with slimey effort.

These fish are surrounded in all sorts of rumors.

When you're out there swimming in the Great Lakes,

I know a lot of people have heard the rumor that possibly

these things will latch on and flicked a suction bite

and then suck out your insides.

Based on putting my arms into this aquarium,

I don't think that's going to happen guys.

Unless you are a native fish species swimming around,

you have absolutely nothing to fear, at least in my opinion

at this point from the sea lamprey.

So I've got two theories as to why the lamprey have not

turned me into a buffet line.

The first is that these guys have

an incredible sense of smell.

Remember, they're pretty much swimming noses.

Coyote Peterson doesn't smell like a fish.

My second theory is that they primarily feast upon things

that have cold blood.

I have warm blood, so maybe it's possible

that lamprey aren't interested in having

a warm blooded meal at all.

However, I think to really push this experiment

to the next level, we're going to need to induce a suction.

Well I want to do is take a lamprey at here one to my arm,

one to my stomach and one to my neck.

If that doesn't give them the opportunity

to feast upon human blood, I don't know what will.

As the sun sets upon the wild lands of Australia,

a world of elusive creatures slowly emerge from the shadows.

And while most people strive to avoid stumbling upon situations

that may involve such nightmares,

the Brave Wilderness crew is exactly the opposite.

Well, guys as you can tell from the lack of light,

it is nighttime.

But the good news is that tonight we're

headed out to search for some epic creatures.

I've got my flashlight and this giant net.

You may be thinking to yourselves, Coyote,

are you in Costa Rica heading back

out after that giant freshwater prawn that got away from you?

No, no.

We're in Queensland, Australia and I've

got one target species in mind, the Australian long finned eel.

Mark, hop on off that platform there and into the water.

Come on, buddy.

Yeah, the water is cold but that is perfect for finding

these freshwater eels.

So if you guys are ready, let's head upstream

and see if we can catch one.

Traveling upstream under the darkness of night

was perilous, especially for a camera team.

Slippery rocks, deep drop offs and strong currents

meant every step of the adventure

was riddled with environmental obstacles.

The search for eels and their cryptic nature

is one of time and patience.

These slime covered creatures stay fairly

nomadic, especially during times of rain

and rising water levels.

So finding one usually happens when

you were in the right place at exactly

the right time, which meant that I was always

ready to spring into action.

I see it. I see it.

I see it.

That's right in the net.

look at that.

Wow.

How about that for a tactic.

Stay completely still and let the eel swim into your net.

Wow.

And that is considered a small one

and it's about a foot and a half in length.

OK.

Let's bring it up to the edge of this embankment

and take a quick look at it.

We definitely have to catch something bigger

but any eel is worth taking a look at.

Let me see.

I'm going to just--

Oh, it is strong, it is slippery.

Now they can give you a pretty nasty bite.

So I've got to be careful here.

All the teeth.

They do have teeth.

Wow, look at that.

Look at that.

It's just all over the place.

Let me see if I can get it with two hands here.

Come here, buddy There's absolutely

no way to hold onto this creature it is

like a slippery water balloon.

Actually, I have a pair of gloves in my pack.

Let me take those out.

There's no way I can hold on to that.

I can't even get out of the net.

Give me two seconds here.

Trying to get out of the net there.

I see. My glove on.

Getting a glove on. There we go.

OK.

Holding onto it with the glove is definitely much easier.

And there you have it, folks.

That is the Australian long finned eel.

Look, the underside is completely cream-colored

and it camouflages perfectly into this environment.

There's absolutely no good way to hold onto this creature.

And honestly, one that's bigger maybe easier to manipulate.

Beautiful animal.

All right.

Well like I said, guys this is a small one,

we need to get something much larger in front of the cameras.

Camera gently set it down here into the shallows.

There goes.

All right, guys.

So far we are one for one when it comes to catching eels.

And look at my gloves, they are completely coated

in a thick layer of mucus.

I feel like I've got ectoplasm on me from the Ghostbusters.

Like I've just been slimed by slimer.

Let me wash some of this off.

I think these are going to be the last time

these gloves are used is going to be for this expedition.

All right, let's keep moving.

I consider the long finned eel to be

a quintessential river monster.

And I knew that for this animal to live

up to that iconic reputation, we needed an indisputable giant.

Deeper into the night we venture.

Flashlight beam scanning the water surface as our eyes

peered through the rippling current

hoping to spot the slithering shadow of a giant eel.

All right, guys, we got an eel on this pocket of water.

It is moving water though, this is

going to be a difficult catch.

Are you guys hot on cameras?

Yes.

Right here.

Right here.

Man, it is hard to see.

Oh, this could be a tough catch, guys.

Right there. Right there.

I see it.

I see it.

Right on the other side of this rock.

It's going under there?

Wait for it to come

back underneath these rocks. Here he comes.

Here he comes. Here he comes.

I missed it.

I missed it.

Where did it go?

Try by my foot.

Right by my foot.

Where'd he go?

It's right in these rocks here somewhere.

He might have gone down this edge of the creek though.

Hold on.

I don't see it.

Hold on.

Hold tight.

Stay in that pool, let me look in these rocks.

If anything came down into this next pool.

It's in the current, move down this way.

The dizzying search carried on for what

seemed like miles and miles of river

as we continue to battle the onslaught

of environmental obstacles.

Then what it seemed as if our chances of spotting

and catching a giant eel had disappeared into the night,

my moment of anticipated triumph materialized from the shadows.

Right by foot.

There it is, coming around here.

Coming around here.

You can set it up on land.

Got it.

Yes.

Whoa.

Wow, up on land.

That was a dangerous maneuver.

I almost slipped but it went right into the net.

Can you believe that?

Let's go back here on this flat land.

Man, that is an awesome eel.

It is slippery, guys.

Be careful.

Right back here?

OK, this is perfect.

Yes, we got one.

Wow. All right.

It's good.

Dude, we got one.

That was a long, long time.

Now let me take my pack off for this.

Oh, buddy.

Wow.

That is a three hour expedition turned in with success.

Let me introduce you to the Australian long-finned eel.

There it is.

Come here, buddy.

Incredibly difficult to hold onto.

Oh no.

Did you get it?

No.

Be careful.

Yes.

Yes.

Redemption.

Redemption.

You guys may remember the time that the giant Freshwater

fraud slipped from my hands and got back into the river.

Not happening tonight with the giant long-finned eel.

OK.

Let's back up a little bit further away from the water.

Clearly they are too slippery to hold.

Are you OK?

Yeah.

Whoa.

OK.

I promised you was going to get excited.

I was just about the same, man.

I had a flash back.

Oh, it's getting away again.

Getting away again.

Hold on, I got to get it in the net.

Put it in that net.

Just pick that up.

Pick that whole thing up. OK.

Rinse it off. Time out.

Time out. Keep it up.

No need to put it down.

This isn't funny anymore.

It's pretty funny, actually.

All right.

Let's back all the way back.

All the way back.

Now, Coyote, just to be clear,

these eels can be on land for quite a while?

Yes.

All right.

Let's crouch down to get this under control finally.

I'm going to keep the net upright like this.

I fear not, these eels can stay out

of water for a substantial amount of time.

In fact, hours upon hours.

Because if they become stranded in a pocket

and they want to move to a body of larger water,

they can actually crawl over land.

And as you saw, it shot up out of the river

onto land to make an escape.

They are extremely quick.

OK.

I need to rethink this situation so

that I can actually get it out of the net

and that you guys can see it.

All right.

Look, it's staying still now.

I'm going to gently set that down.

OK.

Now I do want to get it up out of the net

so you guys can get a good look at it.

I'm trying to just let it get acclimated and get calm.

And actually one thing that we can look at first without me

actually picking it up is where it gets its name,

the Australian long-finned eel.

Look at this dorsal fin that runs

along the length of its body.

I'm going to very gently--

Mario, you got an OK shot there?

I'm going to gently just sort of peel that fin up.

Can you see that?

Oh, yeah.

That is where the name

long-finned eel comes from.

Now there is a short finned eel also here in Australia they

are quite a bit smaller than this variety

and it is that long dorsal fin that easily distinguishes it

from the short finned variety.

Now these creatures are most active at night,

out right now hunting and they are voracious predators.

All right.

Come here, buddy.

Let me hold you up just a bit.

I'm going to try to get a good hold on it.

They are all muscle, very powerful.

And with their feasting on is small fish invertebrates.

They will even take things like frogs and snakes

if they can catch them.

And an eel of this size is about halfway

to what they can ultimately turn into.

And at a maximum length, they can

reach close to 10 feet in length and weigh about 50 pounds.

Now here's something really interesting about the life

cycle of this animal.

It's almost opposite that of a salmon.

So you know the salmon swim out of the ocean

and upriver to do their spawning.

These creatures actually swim out of the rivers and creeks

and back into the ocean where they do their breeding.

Now once they have bred and the smaller ones are born,

they are actually called elvers.

Yeah, kind of like an elf.

An elver will then swim back into the creek system

where they will spend several years

growing to about this size.

And like I said, this is about medium.

They can grow to be about six feet in length in the river

systems and it's really the ones who become marooned in pockets

of water that they can't escape from that

grow to that maximum length of around 10 feet and 50 pounds.

Wow.

That's a very healthy eel.

That is a very healthy eel.

And you can see there are two little sensory organs right

on the front of its face there, almost look like the barbells

on the front of a catfish.

And they use that to sense their environment, vibrations

beneath the water's surface and that

helps them detect their prey.

Now, they have the opportunity to be ambush predators

or nomadic predators.

And an ambush predator is something that waits

for its prey to come to it.

But based on the strength and speed of this creature,

they can easily chase after something like a freshwater

prawn or a fish.

And you'll notice that coloration,

that speckling, green and black, drab olive

allows it to stay perfectly camouflaged within the shadows,

the algae and amongst the rock structures here in the river.

Oh yeah, you're trying to make a run for it.

Wow.

And it is taking all of my strength

right now to hold this eel still.

Wow.

It is so powerful.

You see that twisting move that it's making there?

It's just trying to get itself out of my hands

and back into the river.

Woo.

All right, let set it down in the net there for a second.

Oh, look at all that mucus coating my gloves.

Now you get a good shot of the tail there.

It's like a big wolf and that's what

allows these creatures to quickly propel their bodies

forward in the water.

And they can move downstream or upstream

and they can perfectly maneuver their bodies

and manipulate them around the rocks

to fit into small crevices.

And like I said earlier, up underneath embankments

and beneath flat rocks is where they will hide during the day.

Again, this is primarily a nocturnal creature.

And sure enough, it took us being out here for three hours

before we finally came across one that was of decent size

to get in front of the cameras.

Well, a little bit of patience and a lot of persistence but it

finally paid off as we got the Australian long-finned eel

up close for the cameras.

And what a catch that was.

An initial catch, it got out of the net

and then I got it a second time.

Redemption has been had for the giant freshwater prawn.

Guys, this may have been one of the most

epic catches we have ever had.

I'm Katie Petersen, be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.