Headline Tag: Science Rating: Amazing Hits: 158 Comments: 0 The Blue Planet: Open Ocean The Blue Planet: Open Ocean Broadcast 26 September 2001, the third instalment focuses on life in the "marine deserts": seas that are furthest from land. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough and RT 48:07. Such waters contain the swiftest and most powerful of ocean hunters. A feeding frenzy is shown, as striped marlin, tuna and a Sei whale pick off a shoal of sardines until all within it have been consumed. Manta rays also gather to eat the eggs of spawning surgeonfish. Accumulations of plankton correspond to ocean 'boundaries' and consequently, schools of fish seek them out. This in turn attracts predators, and a sailfish is filmed on the attack. The only escape for smaller fish is to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible. Bluefin tuna are able to heat their bodies and so can hunt in colder conditions than the others of their species. Off the coast of New Zealand, an undersea volcano has formed an island and the nearby currents sweep many kinds of creatures to it, again creating huge feeding grounds. Another Pacific seamount is surrounded by hammerhead sharks, but not to seek food: they are there to allow other fish to clean them of parasites. However, others that are on the lookout for prey arrive in vast numbers. A large pod of common dolphins is too big to feed all at once and so splits up into smaller expeditions. One of these ends up near the Azores with a shoal of mackerel in its sights, but they have to compete for their quarry with an attendant flock of shearwaters and a group of adult yellowfin tuna. User: spam_vigilante Jul 24, 2008 10:39 PM











Headline Tag: Science Rating: Amazing Hits: 115 Comments: 0 The Blue Planet: Seasonal Seas The Blue Planet: Seasonal Seas Episode 5 of the BBC documentary. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, RT 48:32. Just when the weather is at its worst, 100,000 grey seals haul themselves up through the surf on to Sable Island off Nova Scotia. This is the world's largest colony of grey seals and perversely they've come to breed in winter. Within 18 days the pups are abandoned, but spring is on its way with plenty of food. An eight-tonne basking shark filters 1,000 tonnes of seawater through its gills every hour to sieve out plankton, and large numbers are attracted to plankton blooms. On the seafloor, seaweed stretches towards the sunlight, and off the coast of California, underwater forests of giant kelp grow up to 100 metres high. Massive schools of fish shelter here and sea otters snooze at the surface winding strands of kelp around themselves as anchors. By July, the seasonal seas are warming up fast. On the coast of Nova Scotia large female lobsters are marching 150km from cold, deep waters where they spent the winter, to warm shallows where they can incubate their eggs. In August, pacific salmon return to the coast of Alaska and are hunted down by huge salmon sharks. By early autumn, Pacific white-sided dolphin are turning up in British Columbia in great numbers. Rather than fish for herring they like to play - engaging in a dolphin's version of tag, as they pass a strand of seaweed from flipper to flipper. As fast as winter approaches in the north, spring is coming back at the opposite end of the world. Strange handfish walk across the bottom of the sea using their fins like hands. There is also a beautiful courtship ballet performed by Australian squid that change colour as they dance. A male leafy seadragon is a devoted parent, carrying dozens of eggs on his belly and relying on his perfect leafy camouflage to hide them from other hungry fish. User: spam_vigilante Jul 24, 2008 4:56 AM






 
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