blue planet seas of life episode summary

If we were exposed to the pressure down there we’d be dead. As the net is drawn in, the sea lions must get out quickly or risk being crushed and drowned.Īnimals have evolved in remarkable ways to the demands of life in the ocean.Luckily, we feel no water pressure in the sub. Off the coast of Chile, thousands of South American sea lions raid fishermen’s nets – but it comes with a huge risk. In today’s ocean, animals are having to compete with humans. An extreme effort after which they will die, but meaning their young are the most developed of any octopus - vital in the demanding world of the deep. Here she joins twenty thousand female octopus, all here to raise their eggs – the largest known gathering of octopus on planet earth.* It will take two years for their eggs to develop and in that time these devoted mothers will not even leave them to feed. A mother octopus heads to a special place where warm water escaping from the seabed creates a thermal spa. Two miles below the surface, we reach the ocean floor where the pressure is crushing and the temperature is freezing cold. Weirdest fish: 12 of the strangest fish in the world.Weirdest sea creatures - meet 11 bizarre animals of the deep.As we descend and sunlight fades, alien-like creatures appear, including a massive siphonophore - the longest animal on planet earth and without doubt one of the world's weirdest animals and a gulper eel with huge jaws that can engulf prey larger than its own body. The least known parts of the ocean are its great depths, which can only be reached using specialised submersibles. In the Sea of Cortez, mobula rays perform astounding, acrobatic leaps that appear to attract other rays – but the performance also attracts a family of specialist ray-hunting orca that have a unique hunting strategy. No one knows for sure why they do this, but it is thought they may be gathering to breed (Image: BBC Studios/Erick Higuera/Florian Schulz Productions)įinding a partner in the ocean is not always this easy. In the Sea of Cortez mobula rays gather in extraordinary numbers. The relationship that works so well, these turtles are often joined by a pair of crabs.

Passing turtles can help and in fact provide a permanent home for a pair of crabs - in return the crabs provide an onboard grooming service. The crabs, however, are poor swimmers, so to find a mate, they must hitch a lift. It is lethal to many (and the crew had to rescue many entangled turtles while filming), but Columbus crabs are making a home on these unnatural rafts. Today, islands of seaweed are being replaced by plastic - every year 12 million tons of it ends up in the ocean. Best David Attenborough documentaries to watch and stream: unmissable wildlife television at your fingertips.Sir David Attenborough – key moments in his career so far.Sir David Attenborough: 5 magic moments on film.In the giant kelp forests off North America, a young horn shark is ambushed and swallowed whole by an angel shark - which may have bitten off more than it can chew - and out in the empty big blue, flying fish search for floating seaweed to lay their eggs but end up attracting the attention of hungry blue sharks. In the shallow seas of the tropics a lionfish, despite being one of the most deadliest creatures in the sea, is fatally ensnared by a shrimp-like lure, seductively dangled from the head of a cunning clown frogfish. What can we expect from episode 2 of Planet Earth III?įor life beneath the surface, the ocean can be a battlefield.

Blue planet seas of life episode summary