Original subtitles

NARRATOR: PearIs in the Indian Ocean.

This is how we perceive these islands, the Maldives.

They shine brightIy in shades of white and green in the azure bIue, gIittering sea.

MereIy a smaII section can be seen from the air,

as, for the most part, they are hidden beneath the surface.

Unbelievable coral reefs cIose to the Equator.

Sustained and shaped by strong currents, rich in oxygen,

carrying huge pIankton swarms.

A richIy Iaid tabIe. No wonder that there are so many diners.

A paradise, albeit with problems.

Multitudes of tourists arrive annually.

New islands are exploited and new problems created

time and again.

We want to tell you about this fairytale underwater world.

Those who don't know it cannot love it and protect it.

But it's in need of help.

We want to observe it and ask ourselves,

"What do we have to do with this naturaI miracIe?

"And how can we preserve it?"

Sea anemones.

GentIy cIinging to the rock.

Flower animals, but animals nonetheless.

Swaying, as if in the wind, with their tentacIes in the ocean current.

They've found the ideal spot to do a little hunting.

They slowly crawl further using their basal disc.

lf they approve of the location, they anchor themselves to the rock.

ShouId there be sand and pebbIes, they entrench themselves.

Crevices are aIso quite popuIar.

Very private.

But they are dangerous flowers! Their nematocysts emit poison.

Which can be IethaI. Within seconds.

Nonetheless, they do have friends. CIown fish.

A small group of them lives in almost every anemone.

An adult couple, monogamous for years, and some youngsters.

They keep the home clean and tidy.

The anemone is kept free of sand and algae.

They defend the home, too.

They feel safe between the nettles! With good reason.

Sometimes a trifle cocky.

Then, they even attack predatory fish!

But woe betide them should they swim too far away.

It couId be their Iast excursion.

They are small and aggressive.

The butterfly fish, that eats anemones,

steers cIear of them should they be inhabited.

Our cameraman, too, has become acquainted with their little teeth.

And they can change their sex!

lf the principle female dies or is eaten, the male simply changes into a female.

In turn, she becomes the boss.

The next maIe in Iine automatically becomes her lover.

Born hermaphrodites.

When the need arises, they simply morph into the opposite sex,

including all functions.

The anemone has obviously caught a fish and then contracted to digest.

The twobar anemonefish, not this one here,

often spends the night in his anemone's stomach!

Without being digested. Due to its protective barrier.

How wonderfully golden he gleams,

when observed from close quarters, the MaIdives anemone fish.

Here, in the foreground, the small, black and yellow fish.

What would he tell us if he could speak?

What does he think about?

He can't say, "You divers almost trip over me. Watch it!

"I am a CIark's anemone fish.

"l am just three-years-old, but a real grown-up.

"We can reach the ripe old age of five.

"We siphon plankton out of the water directly above our anemone.

"A few weeks ago, l was still a male.

"Our highest-ranked cousin was nabbed by a sea bass.

"l acquired the resulting vacancy.

"How cleverly organised nature can be!

"This here is my flat-sharing community.

"lt's common practise here,

"a couple lives together and the little ones there,

"they look for their own anemone once they are old enough to do so.

"Or move up the Iine, if and when required."

These corals,

all remains of tiny animals.

Polyps.

They continually leave their skeletons, their chaIk husks behind.

Since time immemoriaI.

The next in Iine buiId their homes on them.

This causes the reef to grow, always facing the sun.

Because of the algae.

They live in symbiosis with the polyps.

And they need the sunlight.

Huh!

The masked porcupinefish.

He comes by here quite often, mostly at dusk.

He can still see well because of his big eyes.

He's after crustaceans, sea snails, mussels.

Every now and again, he bites off a chunk of coral,

as long as it's not too thick. With his dentures it's no wonder!

And he can inflate himself into a large ball! When a shark happens by, for example.

Then his sharp spikes automatically rise and virtually stab the shark's mouth.

He then prefers to leave.

Hmm.

Looks empty, the shell of a tiger cowrie.

There were a Iot of them here once.

These are gorgonians. Also corals.

What shapes they have!

They stay put in the middle of currents, these gorgonians.

The polyps attempt to catch as much as they can.

And these here are feather stars.

They've set up home on the gorgonian, rent free.

SoIdierfish. Having a nap.

Their faces to the wall, as if they've been naughty.

Strange.

These here don't bite. They are yellowhead snappers.

They are nosey.

All they eat is plankton.

Their offspring look completely different, black and white, with spots.

They have longer fins, too.

They disguise themselves, so that the adult males don't see them as competitors.

That would probably drive them away. Probably.

Angelfish.

Always alone, this blue-faced angelfish.

Perhaps he hasn't found a girlfriend yet.

This one here is a close relative, the royal angelfish.

Not much love lost between the pair of them.

They like the same food, though, sponges, tunicates.

They tend to squabble then at the buffet.

At the rear of its tail, the black dot, that's an eye stain.

Angelfish use them as camouflage.

Other species have one, too.

lt's supposed to irritate predators, to distract them from their real eyes.

Some butterfly fish even have a black eye-patch as a disguise.

All camouflage.

Recesses everywhere. All populated.

Reefs make great hiding places!

And there's food here, too,

as well as a kindergarten for other inhabitants of the ocean.

It's a whoIe worId!

As rich in species as a tropical rainforest.

Powerful forefeet propel the body forward rhythmically.

They can be incredibly fast when danger lurks.

They haven't got a chance against the shark, though.

Unfortunately he is their sole natural enemy.

He can crack open their armour with his jaws.

ln fact, opening the stomachs of caught tiger sharks

mostly reveals the remains of turtles.

These turtles live exclusively in water.

But the eggs, they lay these in the sand.

On Iand. RoughIy every three years.

On the beach, where they once hatched themselves.

How do they find it again?

Ocean currents, the earth's magnetic fieId, angle of light incidence...

Anything that helps.

Boffins attach transmitters to their armour to monitor their movements,

hoping to solve the puzzle.

Once they have Iaid their eggs on Iand, they are totally exhausted.

But the females mate again soon afterwards.

After 10 to 15 days. Up to six clutches of eggs during a season.

Each of these with 20 to 200 eggs.

Thus, during their entire lifespan, they can lay as many as 3,000!

Sounds Iike quite a Iot, but, caution, danger lurks everywhere!

The clutches can be trampled on or dug out.

And then, the baby turtles, onlyjust hatched, six centimetres long,

on their hasty trek through the sand to the sea,

gulls, frigate birds, herons, lizards. Even foxes.

And things are not much better in the water either,

where sharks, morays, octopuses and other predator fish lurk.

Easy pickings, the little ones.

Very few survive the first days.

Once they have grown up, like these ones here,

there are only two enemies left,

sharks and humans.

Green turtIes have to be carefuI not to end up on restaurant menus.

And tortoiseshell is made into jewellery.

And the oiI is beIieved to heal lung disorders.

And now they are under threat.

Trade may well be prohibited, but it still hasn't been stopped.

Here, this is where they belong!

An endangered species.

Beaches they need on which to lay their eggs,

cater increasingly to tourism.

Or they end up as by-catch in the nets or the long lines of fishermen.

Treaties or laws have done little to help.

Their numbers are dwindling, aIso on the MaIdives.

Thoughtlessly thrown into the water.

lt swims like a living being.

A jellyfish, perhaps.

Not a danger for the green turtle, who is a vegetarian after all.

But the hawksbiII turtIe could easily mistake it for his favourite meal,

and perish miserably!

Bannerfish. Back and forth and back and forth.

A zooplankton diet.

Large shoals like this occur only during the day.

At night, they are loners and seek sheIter between the coraIs.

They doze after lunch.

Almost motionless, all together.

SeemingIy obIivious to any danger.

Sometimes they swim into the deep, to 200 metres.

The locals refer to them as "Little angels".

They throw them back into the water if they catch them inadvertently.

Those, there at the back, they've got big eyes.

Not a bad idea, especially when one is nocturnal, like these soldierfish.

They doze the whole day long here.

They can even make noises by contracting their muscles.

Warning signals, but aIso a form of communication.

Here at the front, yellowfin surgeonfish.

An apt name.

Derived from the two scalpel-like blades, which they carry on their tail root.

lt is a weapon they use against predator fish, but also against rivals.

Fishermen are quite wary of them, too.

A clown triggerfish.

He uses his tailfin only when in a hurry.

Otherwise, his dorsal and anaI fins are sufficient.

With them, he can also swim diagonally and vertically.

He simply opens and lowers the first dorsal fin ray

and enables the second to snap into place and back again.

These movements are even audibIe.

This trigger mechanism gave him his name.

And he can make other noises, too.

He can grate his teeth and play a nifty drum solo on his swim bladder.

He feeds on the vegetation here and from the tops of coral polyps.

A loner, peacefully doing his rounds across the coraI reef.

That is, unless he has built a nest for his offspring,

which he defends aggressively.

He is even prone to attack far too large enemies.

There are also plenty of divers who have made his acquaintance in this way.

Such vivid coIouring! StrikingIy prominent!

lt's a warning to all predator fish, "l'm poisonous!" He is, too.

ShouId he be attacked anyway, he has two thorns on both sides of his tail,

razor sharp.

Normally, these remain hidden.

But when things get serious,

he can use them to wedge himself between rocks and in recesses,

making it impossible to get him out.

This is some school. Blue-striped snappers...

CouId comprise severaI thousand, a congregation like this.

They hang out in the same place, as they are not active swimmers.

Remarkably large teeth. They feed on small fish and crustaceans.

And here, in the centre of things, a humpnose big-eye bream.

They are very sociable and like to mix.

Snappers. There are many species.

Little is known about how they propagate apart from the blue striped snappers.

We know from them, that courtship rituals take place at dusk.

The male gently nudges the female's tummy.

She then spiraIs up to the water surface and dispenses the eggs into the open water.

These are numerous and very tiny.

Spread over a wide area, the young fish hatch within the space of a few days.

As if they were a living carpet.

Unbelievable. A Napoleon wrasse.

A cooI customer. A Ioner.

He can measure more than two metres and weigh up to 200 kilos.

He prefers spending the night in caves or wrecks.

ln the mornings, he swims along the reef in search of fish, crustaceans.

ls known to polish off the odd poisonous fish.

Rarely seen, sadly. Perhaps a little too placid and always stays put.

Easy to hunt down.

These small anthias swim belly-up.

They'll have you know that the cave ceiling is actually the cave floor.

A blackspotted puffer.

Here, in the foreground, feather stars, echinoderms.

They thrive on anything that gets caught on the feathers.

They are totally devoid of bones, these puffer fish.

Just two bone plates in their upper and lowerjaws.

Which they use to effortlessly crack open hard shells, snails, mussels and crustaceans.

They also have no gill covers.

There is a gill opening in front of each of the pectoral fins.

They can pump water into their stomach sacks until they resemble a ball.

Predatory fish then have a hard time swallowing them.

The way they look at you, with their big eyes!

When you approach them, they make one or two attempts to flee.

Then, they give up and swallow water until they are so round that they can hardly swim.

When the danger has passed

they discharge the water and disappear into the depths

by wagging their little fins as fast as they can.

A starry pufferfish. ln a bit of a rush by his standards.

The reef's kindergarten. CountIess young fish.

Here, they are always able to keep out of harm's way in the small caves.

A midnight snapper.

Dangerous predators. Morays, surrounded by tiny cleaner fish.

Very brave.

Meticulously, they scrub even the gills.

And the sharpest of teeth are brushed to maximum whiteness.

No scaIes.

Armour made of bone plates, firmly connected.

The odd way he moves, this trunkfish,

uncertain, like an elderly lady in a heavy costume.

But when threatened, he secretes slime, poisonous slime.

This even endangers him when practised in narrow caves.

These OrientaI sweetIips are particularly flamboyant.

Frequently encountered, nocturnaI carnivores.

As soon as it's dark,

they're off on their search for mussels, worms and crustaceans.

ln the daytime, theyjust hang around, rigid,

in small groups of five to 10 fish.

ln shallow depths, protected by corals.

And always in the current.

lt's more peaceful here in the cave. Perhaps they are just chilling.

The current is stronger here. The OrientaI sweetlips have to swim against it.

They can make grunting sounds with their moIars.

Their offspring look entirely different. Yellow-black-brown speckled.

This is, of course, the best camouflage here on the reef.

And they certainly need it.

Yet another shoaI.

Humpback snappers.

All swimming in unison.

But who notifies them of the right direction?

No place for individuality, which diminishes in the crowd.

Movement and order.

Richly overgrown.

White gorgonians, and behind them, black corals.

A subterranean forest made entirely of animals.

SadIy, our time down here is coming to an end.

Beneath us, a manta glides by majestically.

And we take our Ieave of this wonderfuI and indeed wondrous worId.