All language subtitles for The Last Reef .4K Blu-ray. (2012) English

The kitchens
of today can be more beautiful,

because this year,
there's a better...

♪ Oh, what a relief it is... ♪

Charlie!

On July 5, 1946,

French designer Louis Reard
paraded a model

down a Paris runway
in a two-piece bathing suit

that he called a bikini.

Reard spontaneously
dubbed it "bikini"

during a week in which
world headlines were occupied

by nuclear tests conducted
by the United States of America

off the Bikini atoll
in the Pacific.

Wearing a bikini
actually created

more cries of outrage and scorn

than the act of exploding
an atomic bomb.

It's a new era
of undersea exploration,

with the self-contained
underwater breathing apparatus.

If the bikini won't get you
into the water,

perhaps the aqualung
will do the job.

Those denizens of the deep
had better watch out,

as man's dominion now extends
both above and below the waves.

In 1946, in the waters

around the remote Pacific island
of Bikini,

coral reefs were demolished
and pulverized

by the test explosions
of multiple nuclear bombs.

Since radioactive fallout
contaminated the island,

the reefs of Bikini were to be
left to their own devices,

with no human contact
for over 50 years.

But in that time,
something wonderful happened.

The reefs returned.

The reefs of Bikini
are testament

to the resilience of nature.

But the reefs of the world
now face a far greater threat.

Think of a reef as a city,

a city beneath the sea.

Like our cities, reefs offer
sustenance and shelter

for their diverse communities.

They protect an incredible
variety of creatures.

But our cities are altering
the chemistry of the ocean,

the very chemistry
the reef-builders rely upon.

Coral comes in so many different
shapes and forms.

For years, people were confused

as to whether it
was a rock formation

or a plant.

In fact, coral reefs
are colonies

of thousands of tiny animals
called polyps,

each colony sharing
a communal skeleton.

Living within the coral polyp
is a kind of algae.

Like a plant, the algae absorbs
the sun's energy

and passes it on to the coral.

In this way, coral can get

as much as 90% of its energy
from sunlight.

But we need more than energy
to build our cities.

We need bricks and mortar,
stone and cement.

The reef's building blocks
are the carbon, calcium,

and other minerals
dissolved in seawater

or trapped in organic matter.

They absorb these elements
and create calcium carbonate.

It's not unlike the way we grow
our bones and fingernails.

It's an organic factory,

using the sun's energy
and carbon

to build the reef cities.

We may think our cities
diverse and well populated,

but the reefs of the world
rival tropical rain forests

for their wealth
and variety of life.

If we look closer,
we soon realize how alien,

how beautiful
these cities really are.

Nudibranchs,
the slugs of the sea,

are just one of an incredible
number of creatures

that depend upon the reef.

They come in an amazing array
of shapes and colors.

And they're no bigger
than your little finger.

Flatworms have no
respiratory organs.

They absorb oxygen
and expel carbon dioxide

by a process of diffusion,

so their bodies are paper-thin.

Elsewhere on the reef,

clownfish shelter
within the poisonous tentacles

of a giant sea anemone.

Unlike other reef fish,

they are immune
to the anemone's sting.

Away from this protection,

a clownfish might quickly
be devoured by predators.

In return, the clownfish eats

the anemone's waste
and leftovers.

And by being
fiercely territorial,

it even helps ward away
the anemone's predators.

This is one of the reef's
many examples of symbiosis,

a relationship between
two different creatures

that benefits each of them.

There are other methods
of defense on the reef,

equally creative.

Camouflage, for example.

The crocodile fish
almost completely disappears

amongst the sand and stones
in the shallows

as it waits for
unsuspecting prey to pass by.

Other fish blend in
with the coral,

like the scorpion fish,

or hide beneath the sand.

Coral reefs support
over one quarter

of all the world's
marine species,

and that includes
a vast array of mollusks.

There are more species
of mollusk

than all species of bird,
reptile, and mammal combined.

Grooming may have become

something of a ritual
in our cities,

but is a vital part of our lives

as far as health and hygiene
is concerned.

We even use a form of grooming

that directly mimics life
on the coral reef.

Cleaning stations
attract much larger animals

to the shallow waters
of the reefs.

Small fish operate the stations.

They groom the larger ones

by nibbling away parasites
or dead skin.

These manta rays
approach the reef at high tide,

in search of
the cleaning station.

It's a predictable timetable
that can attract other visitors.

Coral grows and builds
upon its own skeletal remains

in whichever direction
will give it light and warmth.

As a result, reefs can take
many different forms.

They follow coastlines.

They surround rising
or falling mountains.

They can become atolls
around sunken peaks.

Reefs offer protection
for the islands within,

sheltering them from the ravages
of the open sea.

Throughout time,
reefs have created

these sheltering cities
beneath the sea,

in tune with the slow-moving
geology of our planet.

And they have helped shape it.

Both cities have
transformed our planet--

the reefs
over millions of years,

our cities in merely
hundreds of years.

As our cities sprawl and expand,

it's possible to see them
from space.

But the coral cities have been
building for millions of years,

creating the largest
living structures on the planet,

also visible from space.

As sea levels change, exposed
reefs quickly turn to stone,

outcrops become rock islands,

or over time, they become
cliffs or mountains.

Limestone formations
all over the world

were mainly created
by reef-builders.

Reef limestone
even covers the exterior

of the Empire State Building.

500 miles east of
the Philippines, in Palau,

ancient reefs have created
an archipelago of rock islands.

Some of the islands
have formed marine lakes,

completely cut off
from the surrounding ocean.

The lakes have trapped
whole populations of jellyfish,

uniquely separating them
from the open sea

and their principle predators,

so they no longer need
their sting.

They simply drift around
the lake, tracking the sun--

just as dependent
upon its energy

as their relatives on the reef,
the coral polyps.

Coral atolls create calm lagoons
within the circle of the reef,

a perfect environment
for mangrove forests.

Just a few species of tree,
adapted to the high density

of salt in the warm
shallow waters,

make up these dense forests.

Mangroves harbor nurseries
for a variety of marine life.

Juvenile lemon sharks
shelter within the mangroves,

where there is also
an ample supply of food,

venturing further away
from the mangrove roots

as they grow in size.

So coral reefs can both protect

and connect
different ecosystems.

The lagoons are quite different
environments to the coral reefs,

with their sandbanks
and sea grass.

When the sharks reach
12 to 15 years of age,

they leave the mangroves
and the lagoons behind

to assume their role in a
complex, interlocking food chain

that connects
the creatures of the reef

to creatures of the open sea.

Reef fish tend to grow slowly

and live longer
than oceanic fish,

but their eggs are spawned
directly into the open sea,

with a less than one percent
chance of survival,

since they immediately
join the ranks

of the ocean's greatest
food source: plankton.

Plankton drifts freely
in the water,

swept away by the currents
flowing in and around the reefs.

It's here that
feeding stations form.

Manta rays and huge shoals of
fish gather at these stations

to filter the plankton
and nutrients from the water

as it flows through the channel.

The whale shark is one of
the largest filter feeders

to visit the reef.

Out beyond the reef,

there is fierce competition
among the predators,

and yet, they are
all still dependent

upon the reef in some way.

These Atlantic spotted dolphins

use the shallows close to the
reefs as a place to rest, play,

and to teach their young
survival tactics

for the open sea.

So reefs can be seen
as a primary source

of food in the ocean.

They also filter
the surrounding water,

helping keep a balance
of nutrients, minerals,

and chemicals beneficial
to local fish populations.

Without this filtration,

disease can quickly spread
through the food chain.

In the years since
the invention of scuba,

technology has
transformed our lives,

but reef life has deteriorated
all over the world,

for many different reasons.

The pollution from our cities,
bacteria in our sewage,

the removal of mangrove forests,
the increasing pressure

on local people to find
new sources of income

has led to
the dynamiting of reefs.

Even the sun cream we use to
protect ourselves while bathing

can have a harmful effect
on reefs.

And then there's bleaching.

The algae that lives
within the coral

and is responsible for
much of the coral's energy,

also gives coral its color.

When sea temperatures rise,

the algae is forced
to abandon the coral,

taking with it
the coral's color.

This is what is known
as "bleaching."

Without the algae, the coral
can die of starvation.

The impact of these
combined threats

can be fatal for coral,

and many reefs around the world
have already been lost.

Reefs have so much
more to offer.

We still have so much to learn,

secrets to unravel.

They are as much a potential
source of new breakthroughs

in medical science as
the world's rain forests.

Yet reefs are vanishing five
times faster than rain forests.

And there is another,
much greater threat.

At night, the light
that glows from our cities

requires an enormous
amount of energy.

And where energy is concerned,

there's always a price to pay.

Every second, we pump 761 tons

of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere

in our unquenchable
thirst for energy.

A third of that amount

dissolves into the ocean.

Carbon is an essential
building block of life.

It is locked in rock,

buried in fossils,

circulating in the atmosphere,

dissolved in the ocean.

The transition from
one form of carbon to another

can take millions of years

or can be burned in an instant.

As CO2 dissolves in seawater,

the ocean becomes more acidic.

Every aquarium keeper
knows that the pH value--

the measurement
of water's acidity--

is vital to the health
of any fish tank.

So it's easy to understand

that a change on a global scale

would have a catastrophic effect
on life in the oceans.

As the sea becomes more acidic,

any creature that absorbs carbon

to manufacture a new shell,

a new skeleton,

or a new coral structure,

finds it more
and more difficult,

to the point that
growth slows down,

and the strength of the shell
or skeleton weakens.

Entire coral reefs
will simply soften,

crumble, and disappear.

Imagine the outcry

if science were to predict
the complete extinction

of trees everywhere

by the middle of the century.

This is what
the ocean is faced with:

the complete destruction
of all reefs, everywhere,

within our lifetime.

And some say the point of
no return is already upon us.

Losing reefs would have
a disastrous effect

on the food chain

and the rest of
the marine environment.

Consider, for a moment,

how much our lives depend
upon life in the ocean.

Remember, however,
that nature is resilient.

Coral spawns its eggs
into the sea.

The larvae drifts
on the ocean currents,

some finding their way back
to the reef of their origin.

Others, however, find new homes,

new rocks, new starting places.

By spreading to new areas,

as the world
changes around them,

coral has survived
over millions of years.

Coral will take advantage
of any structure.

So long as the water
is clear and clean

and has ample sunlight,

they'll create
a whole new environment.

Relics of war in the Pacific

are now home to
the reef-builders,

slowly transforming them
over time.

Decommissioned ships
are now regularly sunk

to encourage the development
of new coral reefs.

Even statues can form
the basis of a new habitat,

a new city.

All over the world,

people are trying to lend
the reef-builders

a helping hand.

But reefs cannot rebuild
in an acidified ocean.

The very simple chemistry,

whereby CO2 raises
water's acidity,

is unarguable.

The call for cutting
our carbon emissions,

finding greener
sources of energy,

greener forms of transport,

becomes more vital than ever.

It's the one way
we can all contribute,

however indirectly,

to the recovery
of the world's oceans.

The reef-builders will return.

They will create new hot spots
of diversity in the oceans,

new cities beneath the sea...

if we let them.

Perhaps we can learn
from the lessons of Bikini.

Coral reefs have an amazing
ability to rebuild,

and their influence reaches
far across land and sea.

The last reef is now
our responsibility...

a responsibility
that we cannot ignore.

Its future is in our hands.

The last reef...

is in our hands.