Insane Moment Mantis Shrimp Spears Fish! Speed Kills 202
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 In the wild, speed is an asset.
00:07 Hunters use it to ambush.
00:12 Others in silent attack.
00:17 The fastest animals on the planet use speed to kill.
00:26 (dramatic music)
00:29 High-speed cameras and a detailed study of anatomy
00:34 reveal how they do it.
00:36 In the depths of the Black Lagoon,
00:42 killing is a highly creative business.
00:45 Freakish assassins are poised to strike
00:50 using spears, bullets, and alien jaws.
00:55 (dramatic music)
00:57 A world of action is hiding in the blink of an eye.
01:01 A bizarre netherworld between ocean and river,
01:20 the world's lagoons are systems in limbo.
01:24 (dramatic music)
01:27 The landscape has a life of its own,
01:31 bringing constant turmoil to this fluid environment.
01:35 Creatures function in shifts here.
01:41 Surviving is tough and change is the only certainty.
01:45 The moon pushes and pulls, toying with life here.
01:52 (water splashing)
01:56 Forcing water in and out twice a day, like clockwork.
02:00 (dramatic music)
02:03 Dark mangroves create natural catacombs.
02:16 Some come in for protection.
02:22 (dramatic music)
02:25 But others are here to hunt.
02:27 This water world crawls and creeps with life
02:45 away from underwater predators.
02:50 But in the Black Lagoon, nowhere is safe.
02:53 This archerfish is an expert marksman.
03:17 The mangrove maze is its hunting ground,
03:20 and to be successful, it's become a very creative killer.
03:25 There's good cover among the roots,
03:32 so he targets prey above his watery realm.
03:35 (dramatic music)
03:37 A powerful tail propels the archerfish into the air.
04:04 (dramatic music)
04:06 So fast, the insects don't even think of escape.
04:10 But this speedy tactic can only work hand in hand
04:19 with exceptional camouflage.
04:20 Its white body and black spots blend perfectly
04:26 into the dappled shade.
04:33 While its slim form has a small surface area,
04:37 and it's paler from above.
04:39 (dramatic music)
04:56 (arrow whooshing)
04:59 But judging distance through the surface is tricky.
05:10 Refraction plays havoc with their range finding,
05:14 so they have to calculate the offset.
05:23 The archerfish's eyes are positioned close to their mouths,
05:27 giving them excellent binocular vision.
05:29 The eye also maps color in two different ways.
05:35 They have pigment receptors tuned to the murky brown waters
05:40 in the upper part for looking down,
05:42 and normal color vision, much like humans,
05:46 in the part of the eye that looks up
05:48 and towards the surface.
05:51 But if you think their jumping is impressive,
05:54 you need to watch carefully.
05:56 (arrow whooshing)
06:05 When jumping fails,
06:17 the archerfish turns into a submarine water pistol
06:22 and can spit out a bullet-like jet of water
06:24 to dislodge insects from their lofty perch.
06:27 A special groove on the roof of their mouth
06:31 forms a tube with a tongue,
06:33 and water is forced out by squeezing the gills.
06:36 They direct the jet with the tip of their tongue,
06:42 even taking into consideration the arc of the water bullet
06:45 due to gravity.
06:47 Ready, aim, fire.
06:49 These mangrove marksmen often form shooting parties
06:57 that compete for prey.
06:58 The archerfish is one of a kind.
07:02 No other fish on the planet uses a jet of water to hunt.
07:06 (arrow whooshing)
07:13 (water bubbling)
07:16 Beyond the deep shade of the mangroves
07:32 in the leafy suburbs of the lagoon,
07:35 a blue swimming crab has just finished mating.
07:38 (water bubbling)
07:41 With the help of swimming paddles,
07:47 he's now on a search for food,
07:49 but he's exposed an easy target for predators,
07:53 especially predators from above.
07:59 (arrow whooshing)
08:04 (dramatic music)
08:06 The crab makes a lucky escape, and now,
08:26 this African fish eagle stakes a claim
08:32 to a square kilometer of the lagoon's shoreline,
08:34 its prime hunting territory.
08:39 The tide is pulling out,
08:50 leaving fish and crustaceans with fewer hiding places.
08:59 Spectacular vision allows it to pinpoint prey
09:03 a kilometer away, even beneath the lagoon's surface.
09:08 It is believed that eagles can see
09:12 five times further than humans,
09:14 thanks to retinas packed with light-detecting cells
09:18 called cones.
09:19 They also have a much deeper fovea,
09:23 a cone-rich structure in the back of the eye
09:26 that provides extra magnification.
09:28 (arrow whooshing)
09:30 She may be called a fish eagle,
09:32 but she'll eat almost anything that catches her eye.
09:35 She's got to be quick and quiet.
09:47 (arrow whooshing)
09:53 (arrow whooshing)
09:56 A powerful 2 1/2 meter wingspan
10:03 floats her lightweight frame.
10:05 It's a deadly combination.
10:20 The eagle's primary feathers are stiff and overlap
10:23 to provide resistance as they beat downwards,
10:26 providing maximum lift.
10:28 Huge wing muscles account for half
10:33 of the eagle's total body weight.
10:35 They guarantee a speedy takeoff.
10:37 Hollow bones offset the heavy muscle,
10:44 resulting in maximum flight efficiency.
10:48 (arrow whooshing)
11:15 Another crab straying too close to the surface.
11:18 A textbook strike.
11:31 The fish eagle's powerful foot
11:38 exerts 10 times more grip than an adult human hand.
11:44 While two-inch long talons
11:46 impale the crab's protective armor.
11:48 Her eyes are the scope
11:53 and her feet are the death-delivering bullet.
11:56 (crab squealing)
11:59 Night falls over the lagoon.
12:12 Creatures brace themselves
12:14 for the incoming tide and the dangers it brings.
12:17 And with the fading light,
12:21 the black lagoon becomes darker in other ways.
12:25 Predatory fish swim in from the ocean.
12:35 And bizarre creatures emerge
12:43 to scour the murky depths.
12:45 While others lie and wait.
12:58 But one of the black lagoon's weirdest inhabitants
13:08 is on the prowl.
13:10 This alien-like creature may be a dainty swimmer,
13:14 but it's a professional killer.
13:15 The mantis shrimp is neither mantis nor shrimp.
13:23 It looks like a mantis,
13:25 but it's a truly unique creature
13:27 with a sinister reputation.
13:31 It's hunting now.
13:39 (water bubbling)
13:41 It senses alert.
13:43 Not only does it have extraordinary eyes,
13:49 it's equipped with razor-sharp spears for arms.
13:52 This shrimp's forelimbs are like folded daggers
13:58 with sharp spikes,
13:59 perfectly designed to stab into the soft flesh of fish.
14:03 Barbs on the ends of each spear
14:06 ensure the prey has little chance of escaping.
14:09 The extensor muscle tenses,
14:13 but a latch holds the spear in place.
14:16 When the latch is released,
14:19 the sudden force of muscular energy unfolds the arm,
14:23 which travels at six meters per second
14:25 directly into the prey.
14:27 But it doesn't go after prey.
14:34 It's looking for the perfect spot to stage an ambush.
14:37 Spinning may help for excavation,
14:52 but it's also a display of aggression
14:54 against potential predators.
14:56 (suspenseful music)
14:59 The lagoon's bigger fish are on the hunt,
15:17 but the shrimp is secure in its new burrow.
15:25 (suspenseful music)
15:28 The mantis shrimp clears his doorway of loose sand,
15:49 preparing for the day shift.
15:54 The burrow can be two meters deep,
15:56 but it'll perch at the entrance
15:59 as he waits for prey to pass.
16:01 Fish are all around,
16:14 but the mantis shrimp needs a smaller one.
16:23 These are the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.
16:26 The eye is made up of three separate parts
16:30 that work together,
16:32 meaning the mantis shrimp has trinocular vision.
16:35 The top and bottom sections
16:38 see a similar spectrum to human eyes,
16:41 but it's the middle band of photoreceptors
16:43 that give them superpowers.
16:46 The mid band detects infrared, ultraviolet,
16:49 and polarized light.
16:52 (suspenseful music)
16:54 In simple terms, the eyes can judge range very accurately,
16:58 handy if you're a sharpshooter.
17:00 It's a good time to be hunting.
17:07 The tide is high now,
17:09 and shoals of fish mass into the shallows.
17:12 (suspenseful music)
17:17 (water bubbling)
17:20 The mantis shrimp is ready and waiting.
17:30 All he needs is for a fish to swim into stabbing range.
17:33 One last distance calculation.
17:43 (suspenseful music)
17:46 In the blink of an eye,
18:04 lightning quick daggers shoot out and stab the fish.
18:07 The barbs hook in, securing the mantis shrimp's grip.
18:13 The jagged limbs pull the fish towards the mouth.
18:16 They're the perfect fishing rod for the perfect predator.
18:20 Just when the mantis shrimp thinks he's sealed the deal,
18:36 the injured fish makes a speedy escape.
18:39 (suspenseful music)
18:43 But it's not speedy enough.
18:44 Supersonic spears, talons, and water pistols,
18:58 lagoon predators are unconventional killers.
19:02 Even jaws are weird here.
19:05 And how they use their jaws is another level of weird.
19:09 Deadly weird.
19:13 This constantly changing environment is a hard taskmaster.
19:26 Residents have to adapt to the extreme.
19:29 Creatures of the Black Lagoon are masters of illusion.
19:35 (suspenseful music)
19:37 Drifting seaweed that are actually fish.
19:41 A desert-like wasteland that's actually full of life.
19:55 A cowled nudibranch vacuums the sand.
20:02 (suspenseful music)
20:05 But one lagoon resident cheats the eye in a different way.
20:20 The trumpetfish is the weird cousin of the seahorse.
20:30 She can change color to mimic the rocks around her.
20:33 But her best disguise is her angle of attack.
20:40 Even in plain sight,
20:43 this glassfish doesn't seem to know she's there.
20:46 But there's competition.
20:51 The trumpetfish needs to make a move fast.
20:58 (suspenseful music)
21:01 She edges closer using the drift technique.
21:09 The glassfish falls for it.
21:14 (suspenseful music)
21:21 (suspenseful music)
21:24 She only has a few teeth, but why chew when you can suck?
21:35 Early fish didn't even have jaws.
21:41 Water and food were simply moved into the mouth
21:46 and strained through filter bars,
21:48 which later became gills.
21:50 Then the bones of the first
21:53 and later second gill arches became the jaws.
21:56 Scales around the mouth became teeth.
22:01 Typically, fish hunted by grabbing with a simple snap.
22:06 Then the game changed.
22:10 In some fish, the face and jaw bones separated,
22:15 allowing the mouth to extend.
22:18 The gape and suck technique was born.
22:21 This proved such an effective feeding strategy
22:25 that the majority of fish alive today have this jaw design.
22:29 This grouper is one of them.
22:31 A system of muscles and levers
22:36 pull the lower jaw down and open,
22:38 while the upper jaw is pushed forward and out.
22:41 The gape opens the throat,
22:46 and then the gill covers flare out.
22:48 This creates a pressure difference
22:51 between the inside and the outside of the mouth,
22:54 and a powerful vacuum is formed in less than 0.2 seconds.
22:59 Small fish are literally inhaled,
23:04 faster than the eye can see.
23:14 (beeping)
23:17 But the gape and suck doesn't end with a grouper.
23:24 Beneath the sand lies a master assassin.
23:30 It's practically invisible.
23:35 Eyeballs are masked by a drape of skin.
23:43 (dramatic music)
23:46 This fish is almost totally flat,
23:56 so it's easy to keep a low profile.
23:58 A moonfish trawls for microscopic zooplankton.
24:10 (dramatic music)
24:13 It's scanning the water around it,
24:21 but not below.
24:25 Like his reptilian namesake, he erupts in attack.
24:36 (dramatic music)
24:39 At a cool 50 kilometers an hour.
24:42 This is the crocodile fish.
24:51 Only the lucky few get away, like this shrimp.
24:56 But in the lagoon,
25:00 there's always another killer waiting in the wings.
25:06 And this one isn't nearly as discreet.
25:08 The lionfish's striped sail-like fins
25:19 keep him floating in mid-water.
25:21 It's a formidable predator and a skilled suction feeder.
25:33 But it also has lethal defense weapons.
25:36 Dorsal spines inject venom into any predator
25:46 crazy enough to attempt an attack.
25:48 But the lionfish also has a very rare hunting strategy.
25:59 Like the wild cat he's named after, he doesn't hunt alone.
26:03 Working together as a pack,
26:15 they actively search out their prey.
26:18 This rocky outcrop looks like a good place to start.
26:27 Perfect, a nursery shoal seeking shelter in the rocks.
26:31 The lionfish move in.
26:34 Their skill is using their far-reaching fins
26:39 to herd their prey.
26:40 This nursery shoal is surrounded.
26:49 (dramatic music)
26:52 With each desperate turn,
26:59 there's another hunter stalking them.
27:01 Eventually, there's no hope of a getaway.
27:13 With the shoal trapped, they all share in the bounty,
27:18 picking them off one by one.
27:20 Skulking in the shadows,
27:44 a secretive serpentine hunter
27:46 takes weird jaws to a whole new level.
27:50 Jaws so bizarre, they were incorporated
27:52 into the extraterrestrial predator
27:54 in the blockbuster film "Alien."
27:57 The snowflake eel may look snake-like,
28:04 but it's really a fish,
28:07 just without pictorial or pelvic fins.
28:10 (dramatic music)
28:12 It's covered in a layer of mucus,
28:22 which helps to squash the long body into tiny spaces,
28:25 making it a good ambush predator.
28:28 (dramatic music)
28:30 The head is too narrow to create a vacuum
28:42 to suck the prey in.
28:43 But there's something altogether different
28:48 hidden behind those jaws.
28:50 (dramatic music)
28:53 The army crab's cover is blown.
29:01 The eel's going to have to get very close
29:06 to unleash his weapons.
29:08 Rather than rely on his weak eyesight,
29:11 he follows his nose.
29:13 (dramatic music)
29:16 (wind whooshing)
29:19 Repositioning himself down current of his target,
29:24 he sets up an ambush.
29:26 Lurking in the shadows, he waits.
29:32 (dramatic music)
29:35 (eel growling)
29:38 The eel's jaw is armed with sharp, piercing teeth
29:58 that curve backwards towards its throat
30:00 to prevent prey from escaping.
30:02 (dramatic music)
30:05 When the eel has its prey secured,
30:07 it unleashes the death blow
30:09 that inspired Ridley Scott's "Alien."
30:11 A second set of jaws lunge forward at high velocity.
30:17 These pharyngeal jaws clutch the prey
30:23 and pull it down the throat whole.
30:26 (dramatic music)
30:29 (eel growling)
30:32 Once caught in the double jaw grip,
30:38 the crab can struggle all at once.
30:41 Escape is not an option.
30:44 It will spend its dying minutes deep in the eel's throat.
30:48 Another crab manages to evade the eel's attention.
30:59 (dramatic music)
31:01 Only to be taken out by a bigger, more deceptive predator.
31:08 She is the lagoon's true mistress of illusion.
31:15 (gentle music)
31:24 Black a second ago, now bright yellow.
31:28 A mysterious mutant with a donut-shaped brain
31:32 and three hearts pumping blue-green blood.
31:35 She's a cuttlefish.
31:38 The cuttlefish is a mollusk,
31:43 a spineless, soft-bodied animal.
31:52 They top the list of the biggest brain-to-body ratio
31:55 of all invertebrates.
31:57 And she puts it to good use.
32:02 She assesses the terrain,
32:13 then morphs to match the color
32:15 and even texture of her surroundings.
32:20 Her secret lies in millions of tiny organs
32:24 that cover her skin,
32:25 each of which can be controlled separately.
32:28 These chromatophores have pigmented sacs
32:33 that can display red, yellow, and brown.
32:35 She combines this basic palette
32:40 to mix more complex shades and patterns.
32:42 To make her camouflage even more convincing,
32:49 she takes it to the third dimension.
32:53 Muscles contract around the pigment cells,
32:56 forcing them upwards to create little bumps
32:58 or spikes on the skin.
33:00 With this arsenal of camouflage at her disposal,
33:14 she settles down for an ambush.
33:16 (water bubbling)
33:19 Only her eyes remain unmasked.
33:43 (birds chirping)
33:45 She's colorblind,
33:49 but she can detect subtle changes in polarized light,
33:52 which enhances her perception of contrast.
34:10 If a victim comes close enough,
34:12 she'll try to grab it.
34:14 But if it's not within reach,
34:30 she unleashes a secret weapon.
34:32 (dramatic music)
34:35 Two longer tentacles hidden in pouches under her eyes.
34:57 (dramatic music)
35:00 She's fast and accurate, a voracious hunter.
35:19 (dramatic music)
35:22 Beneath the eight frenzied arms,
35:36 multiple actions are taking place all at once.
35:38 The cuttlefish strikes with its two feeding tentacles.
35:47 They hand the victim over to its beak-shaped mouth,
35:50 which delivers a toxic bite.
35:52 Paralyzing neurotoxins are released,
35:58 and a jagged tongue,
35:59 layered with hundreds of tooth-like ridges,
36:02 shreds the prey.
36:03 She settles down in the sand to enjoy her catch.
36:15 (dramatic music)
36:17 In the Black Lagoon, shifting water changes everything.
36:39 Shoals of fry are constantly on the run.
36:43 (dramatic music)
36:46 It's safer to be part of the crowd.
36:52 Hundreds of species use the lagoon
37:02 as a safe haven for their young.
37:04 Like this juvenile kingfish,
37:09 he'll be a formidable open ocean predator one day.
37:13 But right now, he needs a nursery.
37:16 These small glassfish also hide out here.
37:20 But this nursery is no sanctuary.
37:26 The kingfish may be a youngster, but it's still a killer.
37:41 Kingfish are built for speed.
37:43 His oblong and compressed body is a muscle powerhouse.
37:49 And his forked tail enhances his agility.
37:55 (dramatic music)
37:59 (dramatic music)
38:02 But the glassfish have a defense weapon of their own.
38:14 A sharp dorsal spine.
38:26 (dramatic music)
38:29 And the kingfish still need to learn to hunt efficiently.
38:34 But practice makes perfect.
38:51 (dramatic music)
38:53 High tide brings with it a pulsating predator.
39:10 But it's not alone.
39:19 (dramatic music)
39:21 Jellyfish invade the lagoon.
39:24 They're weak swimmers,
39:27 so they move wherever the current takes them.
39:29 A quivering mass of 95% water, 3% salt, and 2% protein
39:36 with no eyes, no brain, and no supporting skeleton.
39:48 Yet they're one of the oldest
39:49 multicellular animals known to man.
39:52 That's given them plenty of time
39:59 to perfect the art of chemical and biological warfare.
40:03 Jellyfish can't chase their prey, but they don't have to.
40:12 This fish comes seeking shelter.
40:16 (dramatic music)
40:18 The tentacles make contact,
40:21 and a stinging battalion is launched.
40:24 Hundreds of stinging capsules administer lethal injections
40:27 via harpoon-shaped needles called nematocysts,
40:31 which punch into the victim simultaneously.
40:35 It's the speediest killer of them all,
40:39 unleashing its venom in 700 nanoseconds, which is fast.
40:44 (dramatic music)
40:47 The virulent poison attacks the heart,
40:53 nervous system, and skin cells,
40:55 and quickly paralyzes the fish.
41:01 (dramatic music)
41:03 Longfin batfish come looking for scraps.
41:09 (dramatic music)
41:13 (dramatic music)
41:16 But the jellyfish is a quick digester.
41:19 It can't run off with its food,
41:21 and it can't float when it's overloaded.
41:25 The jellyfish hoists its victim into its body cavity,
41:35 where it's digested,
41:36 the nutrients absorbed by the cells that line the walls.
41:42 Leftovers exit the same way that the meal came in,
41:45 via the mouth.
41:46 And soon, dinner is over.
41:52 The jellies exit the lagoon the same way they came in,
41:58 this time a little less gracefully.
42:02 (dramatic music)
42:10 A force greater than any of the lagoon's residents
42:13 is at work.
42:14 Nothing is permanent.
42:17 The tide is sucking back now, ebbing fast.
42:31 (dramatic music)
42:34 (dramatic music)
42:37 For opportunistic predators,
42:46 now is the time to intercept fish
42:49 that are washed towards the sea.
42:51 Enter the big guns.
42:55 Humpback dolphins.
43:04 They're one of the ocean's apex predators,
43:07 but right now, they're heading into the mouth
43:09 of the black lagoon.
43:10 This is no playful excursion.
43:18 These dolphins are moving into hunt,
43:21 shoaling kingfish.
43:23 This hunt needs shallow water, brains,
43:33 and some daring moves.
43:34 As the tide drops, the lagoon gets shallower.
43:42 Rapid clicking noises bounce off the fish
43:51 and echo back to the dolphins.
43:53 The dolphins can tell the size, shape,
43:56 and speed of their prey from hundreds of yards away.
43:59 (dramatic music)
44:02 The dolphins work in unison
44:08 to corral the kingfish onto the sand banks.
44:10 Still, kingfish are one of the fastest swimmers
44:15 in the lagoon, and the dolphins take advantage of this.
44:19 Charging at full speed, they chase them towards the beach.
44:27 (dramatic music)
44:30 The speed of their forward thrust creates bow waves,
44:42 which wash the fish up the shore.
44:54 Strand feeding is a unique behavior,
44:57 rarely caught on film.
44:59 For a brief but dangerous time,
45:01 the dolphins are stuck too.
45:03 But when you need to eat 15 kilograms of fish a day,
45:07 it's worth the risk.
45:08 Tail slapping chases the fish closer to shore.
45:22 Then, as quickly as it starts, it's all over.
45:25 The school of surviving kingfish
45:35 follows the tide out to the open ocean.
45:37 But they're still being hunted.
45:50 Beyond the mouth, another of the planet's
45:53 most feared predators has entered the ocean.
45:56 This one is hunting alone.
46:05 Above the surface, he's lethal,
46:15 but he's not the only hunter down here.
46:18 (dramatic music)
46:21 He's clever enough to make his own weapons.
46:28 His expert aim has hit the mark,
46:40 but he's out of his element, and he has competition.
46:45 (dramatic music)
46:47 The struggling fish emits rapid, irregular pulsing sounds
46:53 at a low frequency that attracts another lone hunter.
46:56 The bull shark.
47:00 The bull shark's highly specialized senses
47:09 can locate the injured fish from a kilometer away.
47:13 (dramatic music)
47:16 But the distressed call of the stricken kingfish
47:34 alerts other predators to the crime scene.
47:37 The diver is out of his depth.
47:42 (dramatic music)
47:44 He can't compete with the sharks.
47:55 A shoal of young fish are leaving
48:09 the protection of the lagoon.
48:11 And now they're exposed on all sides.
48:15 (dramatic music)
48:17 Blacktips.
48:25 These pursuit predators whip themselves into a frenzy,
48:33 a rare event caused by a supernormal stimulus in the water.
48:38 The hunting kingfish are out of their league.
48:41 They're mobbed.
48:43 The shoaling sharks don't stop
48:55 until they've cleaned up everything.
49:07 On the surface, the Black Lagoon looks quiet,
49:11 peaceful, and serene.
49:12 But underneath, in this netherworld
49:18 between ocean and river,
49:21 death comes in extraordinary and unexpected ways.
49:26 (dramatic music)
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