Planet Ocean Page #2

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This huge food chain nourishes all

organisms, from small to large.

The plankton is an open book

where we can read

the history of the ocean.

For 3 billion years

life evolved here

in this sea prairie.

Some very old species,

as the gelatinous animals,

can only occur in the ocean.

In perfect harmony

with the fluid environment

they possess an elastic body

which they simultaneously

can absorb food and move.

Sometimes, they cling to each other

and form a huge chain making it

easier to move along with the flow.

It looks chaotic,

but every living creature

is organized down to the smallest detail.

These explosions of life

eventually disappear,

consumed by lack of food sources

or eradicated by an invisible enemy,

an attack by a virus.

Billions of viruses,

whose biological role is

in the regulation of any explosion of life.

Nature does not support excess.

At the end of the winter

mackerel have left their hibernation

in the depths of the ocean.

They come to the surface

looking for the sea prairie.

As many fish species,

they feed on this invisible plankton,

The food chain

interconnects the species.

The fish have no leader,

but still know to maneuver

in perfect formation.

Each fish is continually aware

of the presence of its neighbors,

and respects their distance.

This self-organization

is a fundamental law of the group.

It allows them to hunt as a school

and increase the chances

to find an area rich in food.

The first to find one,

may guide the other

with a single movement.

The food chain

takes another turn.

The sailfish is the fastest

fish in the ocean.

It feeds on other fish,

not plankton.

The dorsal offers exceptional stability

to achieve its goal.

A sailfish of 100 pounds consume

in his life 1000 pounds mackerel,

who consumed 10,000 pounds

zooplankton

that grazed 100,000 pounds

phytoplankton.

For every pound of swordfish,

must be 1000 times more of the sea prairie.

The food chain is a relentless hierarchy,

a pyramid structure.

Some species prefer to help each other.

Manta rays only eat plankton.

The wingspan of six meters

provides protection for other fish.

They, in return, rid their host

of smaller fish parasites.

Others opt for the whale shark,

the biggest of all fish.

The traveler travels the entire ocean,

also in search of plankton.

it's the longest fishing trip,

in search for the smallest catch.

Solidarity also plays a role

in this liquid immensity,

4000 meters deep,

that covers two thirds of the planet.

Sometimes this journey

is interrupted by land...

Here at Raja Ampat in Indonesia

land appeared when the ocean

withdrew two billion years ago.

These limestone hills were

once at the bottom of the ocean.

As in Shark Bay, Australia,

they are made of

billions of plankton skeletons

which accumulated in the geographical

era when the ocean covered the planet.

As the water receded,

erosion carved the rock

to a lush sanctuary.

A labyrinth of 1500 islands

of fossilized plankton.

The archipelago of Raja Ampat.

is the heart of a region

rich in biodiversity.

Here lives more than

1400 species of fish,

and a quarter of all marine species.

The source of this extraordinary diversity

is again life itself.

In contact with the land surface,

something wonderful happened.

Part of the plankton left

nomadic life and settled here.

The marine life decided

to create a new world.

That was only 500 million years ago.

A revolution in the ocean.

This family of plankton

created the coral reefs.

Coral is an animal

that we rarely see.

What we see during the day,

is the calcium carbonate skeleton

which serves as shelter,

a skeleton that looks like a tree,

branches or leaves.

To survive in these nutrition-poor,

oligotrophic waters,

coral provides shelter to

aalgae that feeds on sunlight.

The algae are the driving force

of the construction

with the aim of getting

the best place in the sun.

Each coral struggles against his neighbors

to get more sunlight,

a few millimeters per year.

The petrified forest

is the most populous ecosystem

on the ocean planet.

Here you can hide, and hunt.

Each has its own territory.

Everything is coded to live.

Even the color of the fish is an ornament

camouflage or deception...

Just like a beautiful maritime city,

the gates are crowded.

They come from far away

to get rid of their parasites

because only the reef provides enough

diversity to ensure such a service.

Millions of years of evolution

have enabled each species

to find a place and a role

in this coral metropolis.

The scorpion fish camouflages itself

while the spider crabs

let themselves be colonize by shellfish

and becomes invisible

if thay do not move.

We hide from predators...

Just as in any metropolis

there is no spontaneous life in the reef.

There are codes, social precepts

which should be respected

if you do not want to end up

in the belly of a neighbor.

Hiding has become an art

for these octopuses

the color and texture of their skin

change

to deceive their attackers.

Despite the risks

of this collective existence

a number of species

use the reef as a nursery.

Of the entire ocean

it is still the best place

for raising a family.

Cuttlefish protect their eggs

by hiding them as deeply as possible

in the branches of the coral

so other fish can not eat them.

The tentacles of the anemones

are poisonous, even deadly.

It is exactly for this reason

that clownfish have chosen to live there.

They become immune at an early age

from rubbing against the tentacles.

These natural vaccinations

enables them to use

the anemone as a refuge.

For those who do not know the reef,

this marvelous city

is actually full of traps.

The Xeniidae is no flower, but a coral.

Lacking a coral skeleton,

animal plankton entangles

in its tentacles.

At night the reef

becomes even more dangerous.

The living part of the coral,

the polyp,

is invisible during the day,

and only appears at night.

It hunts with his tentacles.

Motionless in the reef,

it uses ocean currents

to catch its prey.

Woe to him who drift nearby.

The tentacles paralyze everything

that they touch,

by injecting a deadly poison.

Sometimes even a digestive juice

so powerful

that it seems to dissolve life.

The reef is a dangerous predator.

Once caught, the victim can

not escape from his arms,

pulling it slowly to his mouth,

where it will be consumed.

Once a year, at exactly the same time,

at the full moon of spring

there is an extraordinary event,

The reef is in a reproductive phase.

It is striking sexual behavior.

The reef makes millions of eggs.

These eggs, called gametes,

males and females, merging,

give birth to larvae -

the future of the coral reefs.

This spawning occurs

once in the year,

it only lasts a few hours,

and relies on perfect timing

between all the corals of the same species.

The larvae are dispersed by the flow

for several days and nights.

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