BBC - The Blue Planet (3 of 8) - Open Ocean
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These seas
00:00:35.00,00:00:38.00
- thousands of miles from nearest land
00:00:38.00,00:00:40.01
- are the most sterile on our planet.
00:00:40.01,00:00:44.00
These are marine deserts.
00:00:45.01,00:00:49.00
But here live the swiftest and the most[br]powerful of all ocean hunters
00:00:56.02,00:01:00.02
Simply finding them[br]is an immense challenge
00:01:01.03,00:01:04.03
but we are about to follow them[br]as they search for their food
00:01:04.03,00:01:08.02
in this little known part of the seas[br]- the open ocean.
00:01:27.05,00:01:31.05
Striped marlin - voracious predators...[br]that can grow to three metres long.
00:01:37.06,00:01:39.07
They hunt mainly in daylight
00:01:39.07,00:01:41.07
searching the tropical oceans from close
00:01:41.07,00:01:45.06
to the surface down to depths of[br]a hundred metres or so.
00:01:47.07,00:01:50.08
Normally the fish they feed on[br]are widely dispersed
00:01:50.08,00:01:54.07
but sometimes their prey gathers[br]in dense shoals, like these sardines.
00:03:27.17,00:03:31.17
This feast may last for over an hour,
00:03:36.18,00:03:40.19
time enough for other hunters[br]to reach the scene.
00:03:40.19,00:03:44.18
Juvenile tuna join in the feeding frenzy.
00:04:01.21,00:04:05.20
The noise attracts a giant - a sei whale.
00:04:13.22,00:04:17.22
It's fourteen metres long[br]and twenty tonnes in weight
00:04:17.22,00:04:21.22
- and has an appetite to match.
00:05:21.29,00:05:25.28
Soon the only sign that the sardines[br]ever existed are scales
00:05:26.29,00:05:30.29
sinking down into the abyss.
00:05:31.30,00:05:33.30
Such feasts don't last long.
00:05:33.30,00:05:36.30
Within a few short days,[br]waters that once swarmed...
00:05:36.30,00:05:39.31
with food will have been cleaned out.
00:05:39.31,00:05:41.31
The hunters must move elsewhere[br]and once again
00:05:41.31,00:05:45.30
start their search of the[br]seemingly featureless open ocean.
00:05:49.32,00:05:52.32
A manta ray - immense - five metres
00:05:52.32,00:05:56.31
across from the tip of one wing-like fin[br]to the tip of the other.
00:05:57.32,00:06:00.33
It's travelling economy,[br]wasting as little energy as possible,
00:06:00.33,00:06:04.32
as it glides through[br]the waters of the tropics.
00:06:09.34,00:06:12.34
The remora fish that accompany it travel
00:06:12.34,00:06:16.33
more economically still[br]- by hitching a lift.
00:06:17.34,00:06:19.35
Their host is searching for food[br]- plankton,
00:06:19.35,00:06:23.35
the minute fish and invertebrates[br]that float near the surface.
00:06:23.35,00:06:26.35
It needs lots of them[br]and may cruise for days before...
00:06:26.35,00:06:30.35
it finds a good feeding ground.
00:06:32.36,00:06:35.36
Dusk, at the edge of a Pacific Island
00:06:35.36,00:06:38.36
three thousand miles[br]from the nearest continent.
00:06:38.36,00:06:42.36
Here surgeon fish have assembled to spawn.
00:06:43.37,00:06:45.37
As they perform their nuptial dances
00:06:45.37,00:06:49.36
they discharge clouds of eggs[br]and sperm into the water.
00:06:50.38,00:06:52.38
The manta must have known this was about
00:06:52.38,00:06:56.38
to happen for it arrived at[br]exactly this critical moment.
00:06:56.38,00:06:59.39
And it is not the only one to do so.
00:06:59.39,00:07:03.38
Others are here too.
00:07:05.39,00:07:08.39
Now all they need to do is[br]to sweep the water into their mouths
00:07:08.39,00:07:12.39
and sieve out the eggs.
00:07:36.42,00:07:40.43
Within an hour,[br]the whole event will be over...
00:07:40.43,00:07:42.43
Any surviving eggs will be so dispersed
00:07:42.43,00:07:46.42
that they are not worth collecting.
00:07:53.44,00:07:55.44
But other perils await them as they join
00:07:55.44,00:07:58.44
the clouds of eggs[br]and larvae and tiny fish
00:07:58.44,00:08:02.44
that drift through the[br]surface waters of the open ocean.
00:08:03.45,00:08:07.45
These are the eggs of yellow fin tuna.
00:08:07.45,00:08:11.45
If the hatchlings survive, it will[br]take them two years to become adults.
00:08:16.46,00:08:18.46
In three years,[br]they could be nearly two metres long
00:08:18.46,00:08:22.46
and weigh two hundred kilograms.
00:08:24.47,00:08:28.46
Perhaps only one in a million[br]will live as long as that.
00:08:29.48,00:08:32.48
They and the other animals[br]and microscopic plants of the plankton
00:08:32.48,00:08:36.47
constitute the basis of all life[br]out on the open ocean.
00:08:42.49,00:08:44.49
A storm petrel dancing on the water.
00:08:44.49,00:08:47.49
But this is no amiable waltz.
00:08:47.49,00:08:51.49
It's a hunt.
00:08:52.50,00:08:54.50
As they hover facing into the wind,
00:08:54.50,00:08:58.49
they pick out morsels[br]from near the surface, including eggs.
00:09:07.51,00:09:09.52
Only a tiny percentage[br]of the developing eggs
00:09:09.52,00:09:11.52
will survive long enough to hatch.
00:09:11.52,00:09:15.51
These newly emerged tuna[br]are only three millimetres long
00:09:16.52,00:09:20.52
and although they can swim[br]they're still very vulnerable.
00:09:21.53,00:09:23.53
It will be many weeks before they can swim
00:09:23.53,00:09:27.52
strongly enough to make any[br]real headway in the ocean.
00:09:37.54,00:09:39.55
After the sun goes down,
00:09:39.55,00:09:43.54
other predators rise from the depths[br]to attack the floating multitudes.
00:10:02.57,00:10:06.56
Darkness shrouds the arrival of[br]battalions of dangerous drifting predators
00:10:21.59,00:10:24.59
These shimmering comb[br]jellies - sea gooseberries
00:10:24.59,00:10:28.59
- trap their prey[br]with sticky net-like webs
00:10:28.59,00:10:32.59
One ill-timed fin-stroke could bring[br]certain death to a hatchling fish.
00:10:35.60,00:10:37.60
There are many kinds of these comb jellies
00:10:37.60,00:10:41.60
- all of them very effective hunters.
00:10:52.62,00:10:54.62
By dawn, most of the nocturnal feeders
00:10:54.62,00:10:58.61
will have returned to the depths.
00:11:01.63,00:11:03.63
The surviving hatchlings,
00:11:03.63,00:11:07.62
however,[br]have already started on their travels.
00:11:17.64,00:11:18.64
Vast current systems,
00:11:18.64,00:11:22.64
like immense rivers,[br]carry them around the ocean basins.
00:11:24.65,00:11:27.65
The boundaries between[br]these masses of moving water...
00:11:27.65,00:11:30.66
form invisible barriers that can trap
00:11:30.66,00:11:34.65
both plankton and nutrients carried up[br]from the depths.
00:11:39.67,00:11:41.67
So parts of the ocean become rich
00:11:41.67,00:11:45.66
with food for days or even weeks at a time
00:11:46.67,00:11:50.67
This attracts vast schools of[br]plankton-feeding fish - like these sardine
00:11:58.68,00:12:00.69
They take in water through their mouths
00:12:00.69,00:12:02.69
and expel it through their gills
00:12:02.69,00:12:06.68
sieving out the plankton which[br]is then funnelled down their throats.
00:12:12.70,00:12:16.70
The immense schools travel along[br]the boundaries of the currents
00:12:16.70,00:12:20.70
- seeking the spots where[br]the plankton is thickest.
00:12:23.71,00:12:26.71
As the position of the current[br]boundaries changes constantly,
00:12:26.71,00:12:30.71
so does both the supply of plankton[br]and the numbers of fish.
00:12:45.73,00:12:48.73
A small pod of Pacific Spotted Dolphin
00:12:48.73,00:12:51.74
- twenty miles from the coast of Panama.
00:12:51.74,00:12:53.74
Like all predators,[br]they seek parts of the ocean
00:12:53.74,00:12:57.73
where their food is thickest.
00:13:05.75,00:13:08.75
They cover[br]as much as hundred miles in a day.
00:13:08.75,00:13:12.75
And while they travel, they play.
00:13:27.77,00:13:31.78
They have detected the sound of[br]schooling fish from hundreds of metres away
00:13:31.78,00:13:35.78
and start to track down[br]the shoals using sonar
00:13:35.78,00:13:39.77
- leaving their toys behind them.
00:13:41.79,00:13:45.78
For the hunted[br]there are few places to hide.
00:13:51.80,00:13:52.80
Schooling mackerel.
00:13:52.80,00:13:56.79
They have already sensed the sonar beams[br]of approaching dolphin.
00:14:01.81,00:14:04.81
Their only defence[br]is to gather into a ball.
00:14:04.81,00:14:08.81
Any individual that stayed out[br]of the shoal would be quickly picked off.
00:14:08.81,00:14:12.81
Within it,[br]there is at least some chance of survival.
00:14:21.83,00:14:24.83
The noise of the attack[br]alerts another predator
00:14:24.83,00:14:28.82
- a sailfish, one of the[br]fastest fish in the ocean.
00:14:32.84,00:14:34.84
It has detected rapid vibrations[br]in the water
00:14:34.84,00:14:38.83
and is searching for the cause.
00:14:50.86,00:14:52.86
Sailfish rely on eyesight
00:14:52.86,00:14:53.86
for their final approach
00:14:53.86,00:14:57.85
so they hunt mainly in daylight.
00:15:01.87,00:15:04.87
When sailfish become excited[br]they change colour
00:15:04.87,00:15:07.87
lighting up with bright blue stripes.
00:15:07.87,00:15:09.88
Since mackerel eyes[br]are especially sensitive
00:15:09.88,00:15:12.88
to blue and ultraviolet,[br]these colours confuse them
00:15:12.88,00:15:16.87
- making them easier to catch.
00:15:55.92,00:15:59.93
Far below, a blue shark returns[br]from a squid-hunting trip in the
00:15:59.93,00:16:02.93
cold darkness three hundred metres down.
00:16:02.93,00:16:06.92
It's heading for the surface to[br]reheat in the warmer water.
00:16:08.93,00:16:11.94
As it ascends,[br]it detects the smell of oils
00:16:11.94,00:16:15.93
and proteins shed into the water[br]by the panicked mackerel.
00:16:19.95,00:16:20.95
The trail leads both the shark
00:16:20.95,00:16:24.94
and its attendant pilot fish[br]towards an easy meal.
00:16:29.96,00:16:31.96
Scraps and casualties float
00:16:31.96,00:16:35.95
in the wake of the passing mackerel school
00:16:39.97,00:16:41.97
Throughout the ocean,[br]predators and prey are locked
00:16:41.97,00:16:45.96
in a deadly three-dimensional[br]contest of hide and seek
00:16:46.97,00:16:48.97
played out over immense distances.
00:16:48.97,00:16:52.97
To survive they must travel.
00:16:57.98,00:16:59.99
The huge four metre long blue-fin tuna
00:16:59.99,00:17:02.99
has special blood vessels that enable it
00:17:02.99,00:17:06.98
to keep its body temperature significantly[br]warmer than the surrounding water.
00:17:12.00,00:17:15.00
As a result,[br]they can survive in much colder conditions
00:17:15.00,00:17:18.00
than any other tuna[br]and they travel thousands of
00:17:18.00,00:17:20.01
miles away from their spawning grounds
00:17:20.01,00:17:24.01
in the tropics to hunt in cold seas
00:17:24.01,00:17:27.01
where the food supply is richest.
00:17:27.01,00:17:29.01
Ocean travellers come in many guises
00:17:29.01,00:17:33.01
- and few are stranger than this...
00:17:38.02,00:17:42.02
crab that spends much of its life afloat.
00:17:48.03,00:17:52.03
It is a worrying passer-by[br]for booby birds with delicate toes.
00:18:11.06,00:18:13.06
Many floaters are little more than jelly,
00:18:13.06,00:18:17.05
enclosed in membranes,[br]but they may drift for vast distances.
00:18:19.06,00:18:23.06
And turtles, like these olive ridleys,[br]migrate thousands of miles every year.
00:18:29.07,00:18:31.08
The ocean is full of such wanderers,
00:18:31.08,00:18:33.08
riding the currents, and doing their best
00:18:33.08,00:18:36.08
to avoid enemies while[br]they search for food
00:18:36.08,00:18:40.09
and a safe place to breed...
00:18:40.09,00:18:43.09
Which is exactly what these rays are doing
00:18:43.09,00:18:46.09
- forming the two-mile-high-club,
00:18:46.09,00:18:48.09
gathering together[br]for courtship on the wing,
00:18:48.09,00:18:52.09
far above the ocean floor.
00:19:16.12,00:19:18.12
More nomads - flying fish.
00:19:18.12,00:19:21.13
They seem to be[br]on every large predator's menu,
00:19:21.13,00:19:25.12
so their whole life is spent[br]on the run in the open ocean.
00:19:28.13,00:19:30.14
They don't scatter their eggs
00:19:30.14,00:19:34.13
but lay them on pieces of flotsam[br]like this palm frond.
00:19:36.14,00:19:38.14
If the quality of water is right,
00:19:38.14,00:19:40.15
they will attach their eggs to the frond,
00:19:40.15,00:19:44.14
which will then serve as a kind[br]of life-raft for their offspring.
00:19:47.15,00:19:51.15
But it's not only flying fish[br]that seek nurseries.
00:19:55.16,00:19:59.15
Any piece of floating debris can serve[br]as a shelter under which baby fish can hide
00:20:05.17,00:20:07.17
The only draw back, is that predators
00:20:07.17,00:20:09.17
like this wahoo always check up on
00:20:09.17,00:20:13.18
who's hanging about in the shadows.
00:20:13.18,00:20:17.17
The wahoo may trail the flotsam for weeks.
00:20:21.19,00:20:23.19
Few bits of flotsam are without their
00:20:23.19,00:20:27.19
quota of lodgers - even man-made[br]junk attracts them.
00:20:27.19,00:20:29.19
And some, like this oceanic trigger fish,
00:20:29.19,00:20:33.19
defend their squatters rights with vigour
00:20:41.21,00:20:45.20
The triggers, in fact,[br]tend to claim all the prime residences.
00:20:50.22,00:20:53.22
Out here,[br]even discarded netting can provide
00:20:53.22,00:20:54.22
valuable shelter, so
00:20:54.22,00:20:55.22
- in a bizarre twist
00:20:55.22,00:20:59.21
- a wrecked trawl net like this can end up[br]as a sanctuary for fish
00:21:00.23,00:21:04.22
- until such time as it finally sinks.
00:21:08.23,00:21:11.24
Indeed, a single large piece of flotsam
00:21:11.24,00:21:14.24
can be the reason why several[br]square miles of open ocean,
00:21:14.24,00:21:18.23
instead of being empty, will support[br]a fish population of hundreds of tonnes.
00:21:23.25,00:21:26.25
This huge clump of seaweed[br]is doing exactly that.
00:21:26.25,00:21:30.24
It is a giant kelp plant, ripped from[br]the rocks off the coast of California.
00:21:36.26,00:21:39.26
Now, it's floating above thousands[br]of metres of water,
00:21:39.26,00:21:43.26
held up by its gas filled floats.
00:21:46.27,00:21:50.26
Clouds of young rockfish are growing up[br]in the safety of its shadow.
00:21:56.28,00:22:00.27
Giants also seek out this algal flotsam.
00:22:02.29,00:22:03.29
This is a sunfish.
00:22:03.29,00:22:07.28
It can measure as much as four metres[br]from fin-tip to fin-tip.
00:22:08.29,00:22:12.29
Rather surprisingly, it has the record[br]as the heaviest bony fish in the sea.
00:22:15.30,00:22:19.30
Sunfish spend much of their time at[br]depth where they feed on jellyfish;
00:22:19.30,00:22:23.31
but it is cold and dark down there[br]so from time to time,
00:22:23.31,00:22:27.30
they seek a little rest and recuperation[br]and warm up near the surface.
00:22:28.31,00:22:32.31
They too are looking for floating[br]kelp plants.
00:22:33.32,00:22:35.32
Not for shelter but because here they
00:22:35.32,00:22:39.31
can find a particular kind of fish[br]that only lives in such places.
00:22:44.33,00:22:48.33
Half moon fish.
00:22:48.33,00:22:51.34
The sunfish form up in an orderly queue.
00:22:51.34,00:22:53.34
They have a problem.
00:22:53.34,00:22:57.33
Their skin is covered in parasites.
00:23:06.35,00:23:08.35
The hungry half-moons will help.
00:23:08.35,00:23:10.36
The sunfish turn their heads towards
00:23:10.36,00:23:14.35
the surface as a clear invitation[br]to their personal hygienists.
00:23:15.36,00:23:17.36
The half-moons nip off - and eat
00:23:17.36,00:23:21.36
- every parasite they can find.
00:23:37.38,00:23:39.38
If the half moons don't do the job
00:23:39.38,00:23:43.38
- there is another rather drastic[br]treatment available here.
00:23:44.39,00:23:48.38
Gulls rest on the floating kelp.
00:23:49.39,00:23:51.40
And if the sunfish[br]send the right signals...
00:23:51.40,00:23:55.39
the gulls will investigate.
00:24:01.41,00:24:05.40
Their beaks can dig out[br]the most stubborn parasites.
00:24:25.43,00:24:29.42
But even the very best of health clinics[br]can only trade on a temporary basis.
00:24:31.44,00:24:32.44
The seaweed rafts are rotting
00:24:32.44,00:24:36.43
and will eventually lose their buoyancy.
00:24:44.45,00:24:47.45
Then their lodgers[br]will have to find a new home.
00:24:47.45,00:24:49.45
If they can't, they will be eaten,
00:24:49.45,00:24:53.45
or die and sink down into the abyss.
00:25:04.47,00:25:08.46
But the open ocean is not entirely[br]devoid of permanent shelter.
00:25:14.48,00:25:18.47
A volcano is erupting from the seafloor[br]and it is still growing.
00:25:52.52,00:25:56.51
It has formed an island some seventy miles[br]from the coast of New Zealand.
00:26:01.53,00:26:03.53
Some juvenile reef fish[br]have already arrived,
00:26:03.53,00:26:06.53
carried here by a lucky current.
00:26:06.53,00:26:08.53
Now they are growing up in the shelter of
00:26:08.53,00:26:12.53
the weeds growing around[br]the island's fringes.
00:26:18.54,00:26:20.55
More plankton and juvenile fish
00:26:20.55,00:26:24.55
are being swept by currents straight[br]towards the island.
00:26:24.55,00:26:28.54
But now there is a welcoming committee.
00:26:30.56,00:26:32.56
Schools of trevally and blue maomao
00:26:32.56,00:26:36.55
are patrolling the surface water.
00:26:42.57,00:26:46.56
All are in search of a meal.
00:26:50.58,00:26:54.57
These one kilo fish snap up[br]every morsel of plankton they find.
00:27:04.59,00:27:07.59
At times, the currents sweeping in from
00:27:07.59,00:27:11.59
the open ocean bring with them all kinds[br]of small creatures in dense concentrations
00:27:13.60,00:27:17.59
These are mysid shrimps.
00:27:48.63,00:27:52.64
Very little that is edible[br]is left after such feasts.
00:27:52.64,00:27:56.63
Islands are far from being safe[br]havens for plankton.
00:28:01.65,00:28:03.65
The Pacific Ocean, however,
00:28:03.65,00:28:05.65
is peppered with[br]over twenty three thousand...
00:28:05.65,00:28:09.65
slands as well as[br]countless other submerged mountains
00:28:09.65,00:28:13.65
- sea mounts - whose summits[br]do not break the surface.
00:28:15.66,00:28:17.66
Juvenile fish, for their first few months
00:28:17.66,00:28:21.66
would do well to avoid such places.
00:28:23.67,00:28:25.67
These yellow-fin tuna, however,
00:28:25.67,00:28:28.67
are now more than six months old[br]and forty centimetres long
00:28:28.67,00:28:31.68
- big enough to be able to eat fry,
00:28:31.68,00:28:34.68
- so sea mounts for them are promising
00:28:34.68,00:28:38.67
feeding grounds where they may[br]hunt for several months.
00:28:44.69,00:28:46.69
The base of a seamount.
00:28:46.69,00:28:50.68
As currents sweep towards it they are[br]deflected up its towering walls.
00:28:58.70,00:28:59.70
The water, coming from the depths,
00:28:59.70,00:29:03.70
carries both nutrients and[br]plankton to the surface.
00:29:09.71,00:29:12.72
Numerous reef fish take up[br]permanent residence here,
00:29:12.72,00:29:14.72
feeding where the currents are strongest
00:29:14.72,00:29:18.71
and the plankton most dense.
00:29:26.73,00:29:30.74
Where the cold water mixes with[br]warmer water at the surface,
00:29:30.74,00:29:32.74
there is a strange shimmering effect
00:29:32.74,00:29:36.73
- a clear sign that the currents[br]are running strongly.
00:29:53.76,00:29:57.75
But these currents attract[br]more than just coastal fish.
00:30:00.77,00:30:04.76
Giants come here from the open ocean....
00:30:05.77,00:30:09.76
Hammerhead sharks - and in great numbers.
00:30:14.78,00:30:18.77
During the day, they circle the sea mount[br]looking for small fish at the reef edges.
00:30:21.79,00:30:23.79
But not in order to eat them.
00:30:23.79,00:30:25.79
They, like the sunfish,
00:30:25.79,00:30:29.78
are looking for cleaners to rid[br]them of their parasites.
00:30:35.80,00:30:37.80
White-tip reef sharks gather here too.
00:30:37.80,00:30:41.80
They do eat reef fish.
00:30:49.81,00:30:51.82
But they prefer to hunt at night,
00:30:51.82,00:30:55.82
when the reef fish are sleepy[br]and easier to catch.
00:30:55.82,00:30:59.81
Far better to rest by day and[br]allow the cleaners to do their work...
00:31:07.83,00:31:11.83
Even swarms of breeding trigger[br]aren't a serious temptation.
00:31:20.85,00:31:23.85
These triggers spend much of[br]their time in open water,
00:31:23.85,00:31:27.84
but they have come[br]to the seamount to spawn.
00:31:35.86,00:31:37.86
Trigger eggs are good food
00:31:37.86,00:31:41.86
and the plankton-feeders gather what they[br]can before the current sweeps them away.
00:31:43.87,00:31:45.87
This whole community is only here
00:31:45.87,00:31:47.87
because of the nutrients and plankton
00:31:47.87,00:31:51.87
that the seamount deflected into[br]the surface waters.
00:31:53.88,00:31:57.87
But ocean-going hunters[br]are never far away.
00:31:59.88,00:32:01.89
Silky shark specialise in picking off
00:32:01.89,00:32:03.89
injured fish and constantly check over
00:32:03.89,00:32:07.88
the residents around the seamount.
00:32:11.90,00:32:12.90
At some times of the year,
00:32:12.90,00:32:15.90
seasonal changes make the currents[br]especially rich in nutrients
00:32:15.90,00:32:17.90
and then the ocean around the seamount
00:32:17.90,00:32:21.90
becomes a virtual soup of plankton.
00:32:28.91,00:32:32.91
At such times, hunters gather[br]in astonishing numbers.
00:32:42.93,00:32:44.93
Bonito, smaller relatives of the tuna.
00:32:44.93,00:32:47.93
They are searching[br]for still smaller plankton
00:32:47.93,00:32:51.93
feeders that have been[br]attracted by the bloom.
00:32:52.94,00:32:56.93
So are these jacks[br]- and their prey is nearby.
00:33:02.95,00:33:05.95
A school of anchovetta has strayed up[br]near the surface,
00:33:05.95,00:33:07.95
even though it is broad daylight
00:33:07.95,00:33:11.95
and hunters are on the prowl.
00:33:14.96,00:33:16.96
These small fish can already feel
00:33:16.96,00:33:18.96
the vibrations[br]of the approaching predators.
00:33:18.96,00:33:21.97
Swimming at speed,[br]they have formed into a ball
00:33:21.97,00:33:25.96
and now they must wait for whatever comes.
00:33:34.98,00:33:38.97
They're been detected.
00:33:51.00,00:33:54.99
At first the sheer scale of the bait ball[br]seems to daunt the predators.
00:34:09.01,00:34:13.01
But now the bonito arrive[br]and launch the first attack.
00:34:20.02,00:34:24.02
Still the bait ball holds together.
00:34:31.04,00:34:33.04
The young yellow fin tuna move in.
00:34:33.04,00:34:36.04
The speed of this attack is so great
00:34:36.04,00:34:40.03
that gradually groups of anchovetta are[br]splintered from the main fish ball.
00:35:42.11,00:35:44.11
Before long the currents will shift
00:35:44.11,00:35:48.10
and the ocean will become once more[br]a blue tropical desert, plankton free.
00:35:50.11,00:35:54.11
And the hunters will have to move on.
00:36:02.13,00:36:06.12
Spinner dolphins,[br]still searching for food.
00:36:12.14,00:36:16.14
Their twisting leaps are, apparently,[br]purely social displays.
00:36:16.14,00:36:18.14
Since the hunting has been good
00:36:18.14,00:36:22.14
many hundred have gathered together[br]in this exuberant super-pod.
00:37:27.21,00:37:31.20
But now the spinners are[br]starting to hunt once more.
00:37:36.22,00:37:40.22
Their skill in tracking food[br]is not a secret.
00:37:40.22,00:37:44.23
Yellow-fin tuna must be aware of it[br]for they regularly follow them.
00:37:44.23,00:37:46.23
But only adult tuna in their second
00:37:46.23,00:37:49.23
or third year of life[br]have sufficient stamina
00:37:49.23,00:37:53.23
to keep up with the fast-moving spinners.
00:38:08.25,00:38:12.26
These are another kind - Common Dolphin.
00:38:12.26,00:38:16.26
They too are on the move.
00:38:16.26,00:38:18.26
As they travel - ever inquisitive
00:38:18.26,00:38:21.27
they pay a call on one of their[br]larger relations
00:38:21.27,00:38:25.27
- a pilot whale.
00:38:25.27,00:38:26.27
The whale is not hunting.
00:38:26.27,00:38:30.27
It's on its way to its breeding grounds[br]in the Mediterranean.
00:38:30.27,00:38:34.28
Pilot whales normally hunt in[br]small family groups but in mid-summer
00:38:34.28,00:38:37.28
they head for[br]traditional socialising grounds
00:38:37.28,00:38:41.27
where they will assemble in[br]super herds several hundred strong.
00:38:44.29,00:38:46.29
Already two families have joined together.
00:38:46.29,00:38:50.28
The males are starting to compete[br]for the favours of the females.
00:39:21.33,00:39:25.32
As the weeks pass by these group rubbing-[br]sessions will become more overtly sexual.
00:39:26.33,00:39:30.32
But now - it's just flirting in the sun.
00:39:51.36,00:39:55.36
Timing in the ocean can be crucial.
00:39:55.36,00:39:58.36
In summer, the northern Atlantic waters[br]are beginning to warm.
00:39:58.36,00:40:01.37
The hunting is good here[br]and by June predators
00:40:01.37,00:40:05.36
from southern waters are[br]heading towards the Azores.
00:40:14.38,00:40:18.37
These are more Common Dolphin.
00:40:24.39,00:40:26.39
Like most oceanic dolphins
00:40:26.39,00:40:30.38
they too often travel in huge herds[br]containing many different families.
00:40:36.40,00:40:40.39
There is seldom enough prey in[br]any one place to feed such numbers.
00:40:45.41,00:40:49.40
So small groups leave the super-pod[br]and set off on hunting expeditions.
00:40:54.42,00:40:58.41
This group will be away from[br]the main herd for several hours.
00:41:07.43,00:41:11.44
By mid-day they're nearing[br]the Islands of the Azores
00:41:11.44,00:41:15.43
- nine hundred miles west[br]of the Portuguese coast.
00:41:18.44,00:41:22.44
Other hunters are already here[br]- Cory's Shearwaters.
00:41:28.45,00:41:31.46
Half a million of these birds breed on[br]the Azores every year
00:41:31.46,00:41:34.46
and scour the nearby ocean for food.
00:41:34.46,00:41:36.46
Right now there is insufficient wind
00:41:36.46,00:41:39.46
to support gliding flight[br]and since flapping
00:41:39.46,00:41:41.47
is a waste of energy they sit out the calm
00:41:41.47,00:41:45.46
clustered in rafts[br]and riding the gentle swells.
00:42:02.49,00:42:06.48
By mid-afternoon the dolphin are[br]starting to hunt in earnest.
00:42:13.50,00:42:15.50
As the sea breeze picks up,
00:42:15.50,00:42:19.49
the shearwaters take to the air once more.
00:42:28.51,00:42:32.51
Out to sea, the dolphin have found prey....
00:42:36.52,00:42:40.51
They are driving a shoal of[br]small mackerel up towards the surface.
00:42:48.53,00:42:50.53
The shearwaters crowd the skies above,
00:42:50.53,00:42:54.53
following the dolphins' every turn.
00:43:02.55,00:43:06.54
The mackerel are still some metres down.
00:43:07.55,00:43:09.55
But when the baitfish[br]come sufficiently close,
00:43:09.55,00:43:13.56
the airborne division makes its move.
00:43:13.56,00:43:15.56
Far from being mere bystanders,
00:43:15.56,00:43:19.55
the shearwaters can now become[br]underwater predators themselves.
00:43:23.57,00:43:27.56
Incredibly they can dive down to[br]depths of several metres.
00:43:30.57,00:43:31.58
The hunting dolphin prevent the mackerel
00:43:31.58,00:43:35.57
from escaping downwards and[br]both predators gorge themselves.
00:44:01.61,00:44:05.60
Soon the diving birds outnumber the dolphin[br]and even drive them away from their meal.
00:44:08.61,00:44:12.61
But another squadron of predators[br]arrives to replace the dolphin.
00:44:14.62,00:44:18.62
Adult yellow-fin tuna.
00:44:18.62,00:44:22.62
These are giants - two metres long.
00:44:27.63,00:44:31.62
They are heading directly[br]for the bait ball.
00:45:28.69,00:45:30.69
Despite the arrival of the giant fish,
00:45:30.69,00:45:34.69
the shearwater continue to[br]press home their attack unfazed.
00:45:52.72,00:45:56.71
Eventually the tuna move on, leaving the[br]shearwaters to battle among themselves.
00:46:05.73,00:46:08.73
As long as a predatory fish or a dolphin
00:46:08.73,00:46:11.74
remains at the scene the[br]mackerel can't escape to safety.
00:46:11.74,00:46:14.74
But when the little skipjack tuna[br]start to move away,
00:46:14.74,00:46:18.73
gradually the bait ball begins to sink[br]in to the depths towards safety.
00:46:30.75,00:46:34.75
The shearwaters follow it down to the[br]very limit of their breath-holding ability
00:46:35.76,00:46:39.75
perhaps as deep as fifteen metres.
00:46:44.77,00:46:48.76
At last, even they are forced[br]to leave their quarry.
00:46:59.78,00:47:02.79
However good or bad[br]this summer's feeding may be
00:47:02.79,00:47:04.79
within three months winter will be
00:47:04.79,00:47:08.78
on its way and the temperature of these[br]waters will drop by a few degrees.
00:47:09.79,00:47:13.80
Then the ocean hunters will[br]abandon the Azores once more.
00:47:13.80,00:47:17.79
As ever, they will move on - searching for[br]another feeding opportunity,
00:47:18.80,00:47:22.80
the next pulse of life in the distant[br]reaches of the Open Ocean. |
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