All language subtitles for D1D9C8FDA7FF5ABBEA298852A374B09E_eng

ATTENTION

EPISODE 8

Much of our planet
still remains unexplored.

For most of it is covered by water.

Every journey below the surface
can reveal something extraordinary.

More than a thousand new species
are discovered here every year.

The ocean is home to 80% of
all animal life on planet Earth.

But today, thriving
in this varied world

sometimes demands the
most surprising behavior.

The shallow seas of the tropics.

This may look like a paradise.

But beneath the surface, it
is an arena for constant life

and death struggles. Where
not everything is quite as it

seems.

A predatory lionfish.

On the hunt for shrimp and small fish.

With so many places for its prey to
hide, the lionfish has to be patient.

This shrimp appears
tempting. As the lionfish closes

in, it fans out its fins
to disorientate its prey.

The hunter becomes the hunted.

Tricked by one of the shallow
seas most extraordinary predators.

A clown frogfish.

On its head, it carries a
fishing rod. A modified dorsal

fin, baited with a lure.
Easily mistaken for a shrimp.

But when the fish stop biting, it's
time to pack the rod away and move on.

And for a frogfish, that takes time.

Rather than swim, frogfish walk.
Its fins have, in effect, become feet.

It may not look pretty,
but what appears to be

coral living on its skin
is actually camouflage.

As every good angler knows,
picking the right spot is important.

Jigging the rod sends out pressure waves
to attract the attention of possible prey.

These dragonettes are certainly interested.

Almost there.

Hook, line and sinker.

Like all shallow seas, the
cold waters off the coast of

North America benefit from
the intensity of the sunshine.

Here, that fuels one of the fastest
growing organisms on the planet.

Giant kelp. Towering forests can eventually
reach the height of a 12-story building.

These forests are nurseries
for young horn sharks.

As the sun begins to set,
they leave their daytime shelter

and set off into the heart of
the kelp forest to find food.

Nearly half a meter long, this
little shark is extremely vulnerable.

There are monsters here. A giant
sea bass, weighing over 200 kilograms.

And wolf eels with big teeth
that can crush little red sea

urchins. But the biggest
danger comes from other sharks.

Hound sharks.

And huge, broad-nosed sevengills.

In this forest, it pays
to keep a low profile.

An angel shark.

One of the most deadly sharks in the kelp
forest, and certainly the best camouflaged.

An angel shark will lie in wait for days.

But this one has already
attracted too much attention.

It's not welcome here.

Now the coast is clear.

But angel sharks hunt around the clock.

Openings for breathing called spiracles
blow out sand that helps cover its body.

The trap is set.

Staying close to the seabed is a
good way to avoid most predators.

Faster than the blink of
an eye. But it's not over yet.

Horn sharks have a secret weapon.

Sharp spikes keep them very
much off the menu for most.

So this young horn shark can
hunt in safety for now. But it's

not

over yet. Violent winter
storms batter these kelp forests.

The plants can be ripped
from the seafloor and

carried away far out to sea.

The open ocean is a
vast, featureless desert.

Even a small piece of drifting
kelp can become valuable.

It's just what these fish
have been searching for.

Here, shelter where eggs can
be laid unobtrusively is rare.

So they make the most of it.
Each female produces up to a

thousand eggs and the
males rush in to fertilize them.

All this activity attracts
the attention of blue sharks.

They can travel thousands of miles
through the ocean in search of food.

And they may not have eaten for
weeks. It seems that they're in luck.

But these fish are no easy meal.

They are flying fish.

Music The blue shark,
however, are not here for the fish.

They have come for the caviar.

But flying fish lay so many eggs that
the shark's feasts hardly make an impact.

And in a few months' time, a new
generation will take to the skies.

Floating islands of weed are
always attractive to creatures

looking for shelter out in
the big blue. But in today's

ocean, they're being
replaced by something else.

Plastic.

Twelve million tons of it end
up in the ocean every year.

The deadliest kind are
discarded fishing lines and nets.

Each year, it's likely
over half a million animals

are ensnared and killed
by these ghost nets.

But some animals are learning how
to take advantage of the plastic rafts

and use them for shelter or even as a home.

This male Columbus crab, barely
bigger than your thumbnail, is a castaway.

Clinging to his net, he may have been
drifting on ocean currents for months.

Now fully grown, he needs
to find a partner. But where?

Certainly not here, alone on the net.

Columbus crabs are not good
swimmers, so this male is marooned.

Perhaps a passing loghead turtle
could be the chance to hitch a lift.

Made it.

But there is more than one passenger
here. A female Columbus crab.

They waste no time in getting acquainted.

And start to mate.

This pair may well stay
together for the rest of their lives.

The turtle, after all,
makes an excellent home.

In return, the crabs provide
an onboard grooming service.

Finding a partner in the
vast ocean is not easy.

Dawn in the Sea of Cortez.

Mobula rays.

They're gathering here,
most likely to breed.

No one is sure why
they leap, but the loud

splashes certainly
seem to attract more rays.

Other creatures,
however, are also listening.

Orca have heard the splashes.

This female specializes in hunting rays.

But today, she is teaching two youngsters
the finer points of mobula ray hunting.

The rays are fast and
can outmaneuver an orca.

She knows she needs to
herd the prey into a tight group.

But she can't do that on her own. It'll
take teamwork. And that is today's lesson.

The young orca are quick to catch on.

The rays are surrounded.

They dive.

Only to be forced back up
again by the experienced female.

And now, with the exhausted rays
trapped against the surface, she attacks.

And the young ones follow her lead.

This family are the
only orca known to hunt

rays like this. And they
are lethally efficient.

But it appears that school
is over for today. For a

few battle-scarred
survivors, it's a lucky reprieve.

With the orca gone, the rays
can resume their courtship.

And they do so in astounding numbers.

Tens of thousands of rays in a single show.

Vast areas of our ocean
are yet to be explored.

The least known parts
of it are its great depths.

Only highly specialized vessels
can take you there. As you

descend, the sunlight rapidly fades.

Two hundred meters down,
you enter the twilight zone.

An alien world inhabited by
creatures beyond imagination.

A siphonophore with a cloak
of lethal, stinging tentacles.

Siphonophores repeatedly clone
themselves, and so grow to immense lengths.

This one measures forty-five meters,
and is the longest animal ever recorded.

With such deadly predators around,
creatures here go to great lengths to hide.

A glass squid,

completely transparent,
except for its eyes and

stomach. So it is extremely
difficult to find in the gloom.

Below one thousand
meters, all traces of sunlight

have disappeared.
This is the midnight zone.

Catching food in the perpetual
darkness is not easy. A gulper

eel.

Its giant, extendable mouth can
engulf prey larger than its own body.

Two miles down, you
finally reach the ocean floor.

We know more about the surface of Mars.

The pressure of the water is
three hundred times greater

than at the surface, and it's
freezing cold. Yet amazingly,

there are animals living here.

Mus octopus robustus,
nicknamed the pearl octopus.

Breeding in these extreme conditions poses
a particular problem for these animals.

At these low temperatures, this female's
eggs could take over ten years to develop.

So she travels to a very special place.

This is the largest known
gathering of octopus in the world.

She joins twenty thousand other
females, all here to lay their eggs.

Water, heated deep in the Earth's
crust, rises through cracks in the seabed,

raising the temperature to as much as ten
degrees Celsius. A deep sea thermal spa.

This warmth significantly
speeds up the development of their

eggs. Even so, they will
still take nearly two years to

hatch.

Once a female is settled, she won't
move from her spot. Not even to feed.

She will constantly tend
to her brood, keeping

them clean and oxygenating
them with jets of water.

Pearl octopus mothers must
surely be amongst the most devoted.

After almost two years,
the ordeal takes its toll.

But the vigil is almost over.

The last of the brood's

eggs. The brood are
gently encouraged to leave.

But this will be a final
act. Like all the mothers

here, this octopus is
starved and exhausted.

Her life will soon be over.

But this devotion means that
her offspring are among the

largest and most developed of
any octopus. And have the best

chance of survival in the
demanding world of the deep.

We are finding more of these
strange hot springs every year.

In some places, they can
be astonishingly violent.

Superheated water, hot enough
to melt lead, spouts from the

seafloor. Dissolved minerals
condense around them to form

towering chimneys known
as hydrothermal vents.

They are home to unique
communities of animals that

all rely on the nutrients
in the scalding water.

Some suggest that vents
like these could be the places

where life on Earth first
began four billion years ago.

And there is now evidence of
hydrothermal vents on the moons

of Jupiter and Saturn. Could
they too be supporting life?

Here on Earth, the influence
of these vents extends far

beyond their chimneys. The
essential nutrients carried in

these plumes can rise all the
way to the surface two miles above.

Here they stimulate the rapid growth of
tiny marine plants on an astronomic scale.

This phytoplankton is so abundant that it
produces half of all the oxygen on Earth.

It's also food for a
host of minute animals.

Zooplankton.

Together, they are the
basis of the food chains

that sustain nearly
all life in the ocean.

In the Pacific waters
off South America, they

feed anchovy that
gather here in buildings.

This is one of the world's
most productive ecosystems.

These South American
sea lions are on the hunt.

But the anchovy shell
has already been located.

By the planet's most efficient hunters.

A net over half a mile
long encircles the shell.

It can trap over a million fish.

But the sea lions aren't
about to go hungry.

They have learned to
look for holes in the net.

Why waste energy when food
comes to you as easily as this?

As more and more sea lions
arrive, some change their tactics.

They line up on both
sides of the net and wait.

As the net tightens, the anchovy
panic and rush for the surface.

This is the moment the sea
lions have been waiting for.

It's such an effective
way of hunting that the sea

lions here are changing
their natural behavior.

And are raiding the fishing
nets in their thousands.

With the net almost drawn in, the
fishermen beat out a warning signal.

Time is up.

In the confusion. Not
everyone manages to escape.

The trapped sea lions are
in danger of being drowned.

The pups are separated
from their mothers. The

pups are separated from
their mothers. The pups

are separated from their mothers. The pups

are separated from their mothers.

Then at the last minute, the
fishermen briefly drop their net.

And the trapped sea lions can escape.

And many are not so lucky.
Around the world, millions of

animals are accidentally
caught and die in fishing nets

every day. And this bycatch, as it's known,
is pushing many species toward extinction.

Animals have evolved in remarkable
ways to the demands of life in the ocean.

But can they now adapt to the
new challenge, living alongside us?

The open ocean is home to
some of the largest and most

extraordinary animals on
Earth. But here, off the Canary

Islands, the Planet Earth
team are searching for one of its

smaller and less familiar
residents. We're looking for a

tiny creature called a Columbus
crab, which is only about

the size of your thumbnail,
which live on floating objects

in the open ocean. Columbus
crabs were once only found on

natural debris like driftwood
or seaweed, but the oceans are

changing and they've
been forced to adapt. One of

the

most common items they
find is discarded fishing gear.

Over a million tons is left
to drift in the ocean each

year. And Columbus crabs are
now making their homes on these

unnatural materials.

Surprisingly, Columbus crabs
are thriving on this new habitat.

But for larger ocean creatures,
these nets can be lethal.

Loggerhead sea turtles
are especially vulnerable.

Many times they are very
injured and many times

they don't even survive.
It's a sad situation.

As a rule, wildlife filmmakers observe
natural behavior and do not interfere.

But this is far from natural. The
team feel they must take action.

It seems that the turtle
is quite OK. We'll just

finish to cut the plastic
and then we release it.

It's a bittersweet moment,
as this is one of eight turtles

they rescued whilst filming
here. This situation is not

natural. It's something that is
being caused by human beings.

Sadly, the crew now face dilemmas like
this on many of their filming expeditions.

Including when they travel
to the Pacific coast of Chile to

show how sea lions are
competing for food with one of the

biggest fisheries on Earth.

Expedition leader Fernando
Olivares takes the team to the fleet.

Diving near fishing nets is
extremely dangerous, so the crew

must ensure they have the
full cooperation of the fishermen.

It's a pretty hazardous
place to dive. It's just a case of

trying to keep an eye on the
divers, but the sea lions also

like to go down and blow
bubbles, so you'll think you're

following the divers and
then a sea lion will pop up.

Taking the utmost care,
the divers get a close-up

view of the sheer
scale of the operation.

This one net must have
about 15 tonnes of fish in it, and

there's eight or nine boats
in this one little bay. And

these are just the small
boats. Out there, there are huge

factory ships that are taking
even bigger catches. How much

fish a year from just to here? From
a million tonne a year, more or less.

The catches are so vast that
sea lions have changed their

natural behaviour to collect
anchories directly from the

nets.

But it's a risky strategy.
The crew witnessed sea lions

caught in nets multiple
times. Wow, it's intense, mate.

There's so many in there.

There's a puff stuck in the
net, calling to its mother, and

its mother's just on the
outside of the net, calling back.

That's really hard to watch.

The puff's really panicking now.

Sometimes, fishermen are
able to release trapped sea

lions. But not this time.
The puff is in serious danger.

Once again, the crew
decide to step in. He's

going to go inside
of the net to save him.

No,

no, no.

Nice,

really nice. It's a relief this
time. But it highlights the

new realities of filming wildlife
in today's changing ocean.

Thank you for watching!