Deep Sea 3D Page #2

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He's gathering mussels for dinner.

He's got incredibly powerful claws.

In fact, those claws are as fast

as a 22-caliber bullet.

That makes him the most powerful animal,

for his size, in the world.

He's using his claw like a hammer

to smash open the mussel.

Now he's off to grab some more.

Here comes trouble.

He won't be safe in his burrow.

If he's cornered there...

...the octopus can inject a poison

that will kill him.

Something tells me he won't go down

without a fight.

His display is a warning:

"Don't mess with me."

If the octopus still doesn't get

the message...

...maybe a shot to the chops

will set him straight.

A thousand miles north,

in the frigid waters of British Columbia...

...lives an octopus

that is truly a sea monster.

The giant Pacific octopus.

This one weighs about 50 pounds...

...but he may grow up

to weigh more than 200...

...with tentacles that could stretch

more than 20 feet across.

He's a master of disguise.

As he moves, he changes both

his color and texture...

...to match his surroundings.

This octopus is on the hunt.

And his favorite food is crab.

His eyesight is only fair...

...but the lightest brush against his prey,

and the octopus attacks.

He extracts every morsel of crabmeat...

...then ejects the remains.

In the kelp forest,

there is an ever-changing balance...

...between predator and prey.

But dramatic shifts can cause

entire ecosystems to crumble.

For instance, sea urchins eat kelp.

But if the urchin population explodes,

the kelp could disappear.

Once again, there are animals

that help preserve the balance.

One of them is the wolf eel.

Certainly a face only a mother could love.

Though he looks like an ogre...

...he's important to

this whole community.

Wolf eels eat sea urchins.

And there's supper.

So as the wolf eel dines on urchins,

he helps protect the forest.

Just as the triton trumpet snail

helps protect the coral reef.

Night falls...

...and with it,

begins the largest migration on Earth.

Attracted by moonlight...

...vast swarms of plankton rise up

from the deep.

And following right behind them...

...the night hunters:

Giant manta rays.

They can span 18 feet,

wingtip to wingtip.

They feed only on plankton...

...scooping up millions of tiny prey

in a single pass.

No ocean predator is more graceful.

In the Sea of Cortes...

...nocturnal fish come up

to join the feast.

And rising to feed on them...

...the creatures of your nightmares:

Humboldt squid.

Some are more than 6 feet long

and can weigh as much as 130 pounds.

They change their color

several times each second.

Maybe it's excitement.

Or maybe it's a threat.

Maybe even rage.

They'll attack almost anything.

Sharks, humans...

...even each other.

A shipwreck lies on the ocean floor

off North Carolina.

It's a desert here, with few natural reefs.

Now the wreck itself

has become a reef...

...a shelter for these little fish.

And some not so little.

The sand tiger shark.

They like to hunt here.

But there's a surprising bond

between the sharks and these small fish.

Instead of hiding from the shark,

schools of small fish gather round...

...using him as protection

from tuna, jacks and other predators.

So the sharks provide another kind

of sanctuary for small fish...

...as they travel from wreck to wreck

across this desert of open sand.

Between lemon sharks and remoras...

...it's easy to see who benefits.

By hitching a ride on the shark,

the suckerfish can count on finding food.

We're not used to thinking of sharks

as helpful creatures.

It may not be obvious...

...but the coral reef owes its very survival

to sharks and other large predators.

They're part of the balance.

We know the balance is always shifting...

...but now it's falling apart.

In the last 50 years...

...90 percent of all the big fish

have been taken from the ocean.

We are taking more

than the ocean can give.

We now know that the killing of sharks

is one reason why coral reefs are dying.

Overfishing is decimating one species

after another.

Entire ecosystems...

...have begun to unravel.

But every year,

eight nights after the full moon in August...

...something miraculous happens.

Tonight, in the Gulf of Mexico,

on the flower garden banks...

...the entire coral reef will spawn.

Precisely one hour after sunset...

...coral polyps begin jetting spawn

into the night sea.

Brain corals begin releasing

tiny packets of eggs.

Then star corals.

How is it that millions of tiny polyps...

...from all these corals...

...choose this single moment,

on this single night...

...to spawn?

How do animals that have

no eyes to see...

...or brains to think...

...coordinate this event

with such precision?

That remains a mystery.

These drifting galaxies are the future

of the coral reef.

Most will be lost in the depths...

...but with luck,

a few tiny coral larvae...

...will settle somewhere far away...

...and give birth to new reefs.

And new life.

Not so long ago...

...we knew almost nothing about

the creatures living in this ocean world.

Now we are beginning

to acquaint ourselves with them.

This young right whale is as interested in us

as we are in him.

At last, we're beginning to learn...

...how important all species

are to each other...

...above and below the surface.

And it's clear that our own destiny...

...is linked to theirs.

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