Firsts Firsts
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BLUE EPISODES PLANET special The fangtooth uses pressure-sensitive canals in its head and body to detect prey in Filming its pitch-black world. firsts ● The team spent several thousand hours underwater in a number of different submarines to film The Deep. ● The crew were Filming the first to capture a firsts shark feeding frenzy ● A coral trout and reef octopus on the Great Barrier Reef regularly hunt Pods of dolphins have together. The fish been seen catching a uses gestures (like wave all over the globe, sign language) sometimes right next to reach across to human surfers. the vertebrate- invertebrate divide. EPISODE GUIDE ONE OCEAN conditions were right, it all came EPISODE GUIDE THE DEEP with specialist low-light cameras. ● In the Seychelles, together and, as you watch, you feel At the other extreme, the crew giant trevally the sheer joy as you ride with them.” worked with scientists to film giant 760 metres down gather off a beach LIFE ON THE OCEAN WAVE From the start, the team wanted PLUMBING THE DEPTHS tubeworms and other creatures where young sooty in the Atlantic to put the viewer right in the centre thriving around super-hot vents in terns are learning Amazing behaviour never captured before on film reveals Extraordinary creatures thrive at extreme depths and Ocean, as six-gill to fly. If the birds vital relationships between species, whether friend or foe. of the action. To capture the orcas temperatures, but often rely on what falls from above. geologically active regions on the sharks attacked the land on the sea feasting on herring, they worked with margins of the Earth’s tectonic plates, carcass of a sperm they are grabbed JONATHAN SMITH Producer Eve Jourdain, principal investigator WILL RIDGEON Assistant Producer where cracks in seabed rocks spew whale that had sunk by the trevally, that with the Norwegian Orca Survey, out water at temperatures in excess to the floor. will even launch which uses techniques of 400°C. Ridgeon ● Ferocious shoals themselves at low- s you ride with a pod of there are to shout about “Itallcame that include drones and his episode reveals creatures Antarctica. Ridgeon Thecrewswitched says: “We went to look of Humboldt squid flying fledglings. orcas into a bait ball of in this series, so many cameras attached to so strange they could be continues: “Very little at a mud volcano in were filmed hunting ● As a polar bear panicked herring, and are unique stories, and together,andas orcas by suction cups, the fruit of a cartoonist’s was known about what offthelightsand the Gulf of Mexico. at night. Their appears on the confronted with majestic never-seen sequences.” youwatch,you developed by a private imagination, and it proves the team would see foundthemselves Methane bubbles out changing colours A T may be a form of beach on the islands humpback whales 10 abreast, it’s He’s most proud of company in collaboration once again that animals can adapt to in the Antarctic. The from the seabed, and of Svalbard, mother clear that Blue Planet II serves up a sequence showing feelthesheer with the BBC. unimaginably harsh conditions. The first surprise was the surroundedby they expose ancient communication. walruses and their the scale and power of a blockbuster. a pod of bottlenose joyasyouride Challenges included Deep also reveals how some of these enormous amount aseaofpulsing deposits of salt buried babies take to the It will still jerk the heart strings dolphins off the coast the cold, brutal wind ecosystems are reliant on matter of krill.” The team since Jurassic times to water, but because with small moments, however, as a of South Africa surfing, withthem.” and snow, and long Wu/naturepl.com Tony orca: Benjamin/BBC; dolphins: Steve Freund/naturepl.com; Jurgen Trevally: falling from above, from a dead switched off the lights, bluelights. create brine pools. We of the loss of ice mother walrus searches for a safe it seems, for the same nights at the time of whale to tiny fragments known as and found themselves witnessed a 30-metre here, they have to compete to find a ice floe for her baby, and delivers a reason humans do – fun. He says: year when this behaviour could ‘marine snow’. surrounded by a sea of pulsing blue high volcano in full eruption, with safe ice floe. ‘whisker kiss’. “Two weeks into the shoot, I had my be observed. The crew were on Assistant producer for the episode lights – bioluminescent krill, the first enormous gusts of methane. We Producer Jonathan Smith says: head in hands thinking ‘How can station for two Novembers and three Will Ridgeon says: “There are more time it had been observed in the wild didn’t know it was going to erupt – “I’m excited about how many things we do this?’ but two days later the Januarys. Smith says, “We had only a vehicles able to go into space than the – and were able to capture it on film that was pretty awe-inspiring.” 40-minute filming window each day deep oceans, so to get hold of one of from which to cover the action.” these, plus the skill and experience of SEE THIS IN THE BOOK STAR SPECIES Orca The effort was worth it, however, a pilot, isn’t easy, and then we have to STAR SPECIES Yeti crab and not just for a dramatic TV event. prepare the cameras. The team spent The pod of orcas filmed in the Norwegian The orcas are barely aware of the lots of time working on how you A small squat lobster off the coast of Costa fjords at Andfjorden work together to corral camera tags, but as well as capturing light a large area like a brine pool in Rica ‘farms’ bacteria on its long hairy arms. the herring. They isolate a shoal and drive it the action, these contain a large pitch darkness and get the immersive Nicknamed the yeti crab, it lives by a cold to the surface, blowing bubbles and showing number of sensors recording details footage we need without disturbing seep 1,000 metres below the surface, where their white undersides to provoke the shoal’s such as speed, acceleration, GPS the animals.” methane and hydrogen sulphide leak from schooling reaction to danger. Their behaviour is positioning and depth. Using both manned and remote- fissures in rocks. It waves its arms over the known as ‘carousel feeding’ because they swim Smith says: “The scientists now controlled deep-sea submersibles seep to maximise the bacteria’s exposure constantly around the shoal. They debilitate have a massive data set to be studied. able to withstand great pressures, to the chemicals, then uses its comb-like ‘Yeti crab’ grows its dinner on its their prey by slapping the fish with their tails. Orcas live in every I’ll be really intrigued to know what the BBC’s team explored the depths mouthparts to harvest the bacteria. hairy arms. ocean, but pods else they discover.” Shale/naturepl.com David crab: NHU; submarine: Luis Lamar/BBC Benjamin/BBC; Steve Fangtooth: all over the planet, including stick to one area. 6 Blue Planet II November 2017 November 2017 Blue Planet II 7.