02x06 - Maine, USA + Micronesia + Grand Cayman Islands

[bunniefuu]

[uplifting music]

- [Narrator] Coming up on
Jonathan Bird's Blue World,

a fish that sticks to sharks.

Then Jonathan meets up with
marine artist, Guy Harvey,

to investigate stingrays in Grand Cayman.

But first, Jonathan
meets some big lobsters.

All of this today on
Jonathan Bird's Blue World.

[water bubbles]

Meet Jonathan Bird,

[uplifting music]

[water splashes]

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

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Traveling the world on assignment

for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

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In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

[uplifting music continues]

Welcome to the Blue World.

- [Jonathan] The American lobster

may not look all that tasty,

but this large crustacean

that was once considered
a nuisance bycatch,

is now considered a
delicacy around the world.

Although they're shipped
to restaurants everywhere,

they come from the cold
waters of the North Atlantic,

mostly from New England
and eastern Canada.

I want to find a really big lobster,

so I've come to Eastport, Maine

right on the Canadian border
to hunt for a monster.

Lobsters hunt at night,

so they like to hide in holes
in the rocks during the day.

This is what you normally see
of a lobster during the day,

just a couple of claws
sticking out of its den.

[playful music]

With some gentle prodding,

the lobster will come
out to defend its turf.

Lobsters are extremely territorial

and often fight each other for prime dens.

[playful music continues]

I have to be very careful of the claws.

If this lobster gets a
hold of my hand or fingers,

it can easily break them.

This lobster has a larger
claw on the left side.

This is called the crusher claw.

The other claw is the
pincher or ripping claw.

The crusher claw tells us

that this lobster is
left-handed...uh, clawed.

[playful music continues]

When a lobster gets this
big, it demands respect.

[playful music continues]

Maine is the lobster capital of the U.S,

and Booth Bay Harbor is one
of the most popular places

to visit if you want a
fresh lobster dinner.

It's also the home of
the Main State Aquarium

where I'm learning a little bit

about the lifecycle of lobsters.

I'm venturing behind the scenes
in the Bigelow Laboratory

where they can conduct
research on lobsters.

Researcher, Amy Hayden Rodriguez,

introduces me to some
of the unusual lobsters

in their collection.

Now, most lobsters are not red.

That's that's the color they
are when they're cooked.

In the wild, lobsters are more this color,

sort of an olivey color,

maybe with a little bit
of green and some orange.

Now, every once in a while,

however, you'll come across a
lobster that looks like this.

This blue coloration is an
extremely rare pigmentation,

found one in every 3 million lobsters.

And I have to say, they are cool.

Now, if you want to talk
about rare genetic variations,

this one takes the cake.

This one is called a bicolor lobster,

and you can see that the color is divided

right down the middle,

one side's blue, the other
side's kind of a pale yellow.

These bicolor lobsters are so rare,

only one in every 100 million of these

are born this color.

That is one rare lobster.

This female lobster has
something very special going on.

If you look underneath her
tail, it's full of eggs.

The female incubates thousands
of eggs under her tail

for up to a year before they hatch.

And then when it's time for them to hatch,

she releases the eggs out into the water.

They hatch with little larvae
that swim off into the water

to become planktonic lobsters.

Lobsters don't grow very quickly.

And just to give you an example,

this is about a one month old lobster,

just old enough that it has
settled down to the bottom

after being plankton.

But from this to the next phase

takes a long time.

This little guy...

Hey.

This little guy is between
a year and two years old.

It takes a long time for a
lobster just to reach this size,

and this is nowhere near market size yet.

Incidentally, they pinch.

Thank you.

Now this one is just barely old enough

to be a legal lobster for
a lobsterman to catch,

and it's probably seven years old.

So it takes seven years

just for a lobster to
be big enough to catch.

So you can imagine how long
it takes those really big ones

to get three feet long.

A few hundred years ago, lobsters
were incredibly abundant.

In fact, after a big storm,

the beaches would be covered in lobsters

washed up by the waves.

Back then, lobsters were
considered cheap food

for poor people.

How times change.

Lobstermen catch lobsters
using a simple trap,

the design of which hasn't
changed much in 100 years.

The large round opening in this trap

is where the lobster enters the trap.

If they're under size,

they should be able to get out

this little rectangular escape hatch.

[upbeat music]

Down at the dock, I see
the crew of The Catch 22

sorting their haul for the market.

I go down with my camera to check it out.

Lobsterman, Todd Plummer, and his crew

have told me that I can go out with them

to see what a day of lobstering is like.

The stuurman stuffs bait bags with herring

as we cruise offshore to haul some traps.

The coast of Maine is ruggedly beautiful,

but the inshore areas are a
labyrinth of lobster buoys

each connected to one or more traps.

[upbeat music continues]

Finally, we arrive at one of the areas

where Todd has set some of his 600 traps.

Todd checks each trap for keepers,

that is lobsters that are legal size

and throws back the shorts
and other bycatch like crabs.

Because this is done by hand,

none of the short lobsters
or bycatch is harmed.

His stuurman bands the lobster claws

so they can't attack
each other in the hold.

In the next trap, Todd
finds a female lobster

with a notch in her tail.

- That's a female that's right there.

- [Jonathan] Oh, let me see.

- [Todd] It's a female, you
can see it's notched here,

right flipper.

- [Jonathan] Let me just
get a closeup of that.

The V-notch was put here
by a fellow lobsterman

so that everyone will
know she's a good breeder

and let her go.

This is how lobstermen protect
the future of the industry

by ensuring that there are
always lots of egg laying females

out there.

- So we're not allowed to keep that.

- [Jonathan] I want to see

just what it looks like
underwater when hauling traps.

Gotta love dry suits.

I dawn my dry suit for
a dive off Todd's boat.

This water is too cold for a wetsuit.

At last, I enter the water
and descend to the bottom.

Woohoo.

With the assistance of a winch from above,

the heavy trap takes off into the gloom.

[boat humming]

[water splashes]

[trap bumps]

At the surface, Todd checks for keepers

and then sends it back down.

[water splashes]

[uplifting music]

Inside another trap,

a lobster's trying to get
out through the escape hatch,

but he's too big.

Many times, in fact, most of the time,

lobsters don't even go into a trap

but walk right on by.

After filming a few wandering lobsters,

I decide to head back up so
Todd can get some work done.

Lobstering is a tough business,

full of hard work and long days.

Todd gives me a chance to
try his job for a while.

All right.

All right, ready?

I get lucky by pulling up
a female lobster with eggs.

- Oh yeah.

- I think you might have
got one with eggs in there.

Can't keep that one.

- Oh, oh, let's see.

Oh, this is gonna be good.

- And it needs to be notched.

- And it needs to be notched,

Oh, this is great.

This is a great lesson right here.

Okay, I got my measure. Got my measure.

Let's find the first one.

Oh, well this is the first one.

We just go right to the egg one.

- [Todd] Okay.

- Now this one has eggs,

so maybe you can tell me what we do.

- What we need to do with it

is if it's female and has
eggs, obviously it's female,

you need to notch the tail legally.

- [Carrie] All right, hold it.

- Okay.
- [Carrie] Hold it. Hold it.

- [Jonathan] We've got
to get a shot of this.

All right, Carrie, get in there.

- [Todd] Like this, right in.

Now you have a notch.

- [Jonathan] Okay.

- [Todd] Nobody will be able
to take that lobster again.

- [Jonathan] Okay.

- That's for our future right there.

- All right.

So that's gonna tell every other fisherman

that this is a good egg-bearing
female and leave her alone.

- Right.

- All right.

- This is safe for life now.

- Okay, I'm gonna set her free.

Okay, ready?

Never to be eaten by people,
but only to lay eggs.

All right, off she goes.

My time as an apprentice lobsterman

taught me how hard these
guys work for a living,

and I also learned how
efforts like v-notching

have made lobstering
one of the few fisheries

that really makes an attempt

to ensure the long-term
viability of the species.

[playful music]

American lobsters are one of
the more interesting things

to see on a dive in New England,

and they're among the largest
crustaceans in the world.

They're fun to play with,

and when they see their
reflection in the camera lens,

sometimes they can get pretty territorial.

[playful music continues]

As interesting as they are, though,

I still don't want to eat one.

- [Narrator] Next on
Jonathan Byrd's Blue World,

Jonathan visits a city full of sting rays.

But first, a sticky
fish with a suction cup.

- [Jonathan] It can hold its own weight.

[gentle music]

Everyone knows that I love sharks

and I've spent a lot of time
watching them and filming them.

You may have noticed

that sharks very often have hitchhikers,

a peculiar fish hanging
on for a free ride.

often seem to be plagued

by many of these freeloaders.

Being a big tough tiger shark

doesn't make you immune to
the attention of these fish.

The bigger the shark, the
bigger the freeloader.

They're called remoras

and they don't limit
their attention to sharks.

Any animal from the massive
whale shark to dolphins, whales,

and even sea turtles may have
a remora or two attached.

Although at first these fish
may seem more like parasites,

they actually perform
an important function.

The remora gets some of its meals

by picking real parasites from its host.

They actually help keep
their host clean and healthy.

[gentle music continues]

Remoras also take advantage

of a shark's messy eating habits,

feeding on scraps which
escape the shark's jaws.

The remora attaches to its host

using a strange looking
sucker on the top of its head.

This is actually a modified dorsal fin

changed over millions
of years of evolution

to form a suction cup.

Ah.

Got 'em.

Here is a remora on the top of its head,

it has a suction cup.

You can see all the way
around little flap of skin

that allows it to form the suction cup

to stick onto other fish.

And on the suction cup it has little ribs

and they're smooth in one direction

and sandpapery rough
in the other direction.

This is actually their dorsal fin,

which has evolved to
become the suction cup.

So this is the top,

even though it looks like
it's upside down right now,

that's the top of the remora.

So this underneath is the
belly. That's the belly.

Now watch this.

If I let it stick onto
my hand, it'll grab on.

And even when I'm out of the water,

it can hold its own weight.

So now, we've done enough,

I think we'll let this little guy go.

I actually don't know if it's
a guy or a girl. [chuckles]

But, we're gonna let it go.

First, I'm gonna unstick.

There we go. Ready?

Here we go.

All right, swim, be free.

[water splashes]

Remoras may perform an important
function for their host,

but this is not to say that
they don't bother them.

I've traveled to the island of Yap

to try a little experiment
with sharks and remoras.

Right down below the boat is
a school of gray reef sharks,

and some of those sharks
have remoras on them.

We're gonna feed the sharks
and get them really excited

and wait till you see what happens.

[gentle music]

I drop down below the
waves to join the sharks,

which are already
swarming around the reef,

looking for some hidden fish.

[gentle music continues]

[gentle music intensifies]

The sharks get really excited
when we start feeding them.

As they bump against each
other and compete for food,

many of their remoras get knocked off.

[gentle thrilling music]

[camera creeks]

After the excitement dies down,

these remoras find themselves homeless,

swimming around without a host.

Now, they need to get back on a shark,

but this is not as easy
as you might think.

This remora is stealthily
approaching a shark,

but notice how it's careful
not to touch the shark.

If the shark takes off
before the remora sticks on,

the remora can't keep up.

[gentle thrilling music continues]

Here's what happens when a
shark can feel the remora.

It turns away and the
remora can't get a grip.

This is how we know

that the sharks don't
really like the remoras.

Given the chance they'll take off

before allowing a remora to attach.

Maybe they tickle.

Soon, it tries again, this
time with another shark.

Getting a free ride is
not as easy as it looks.

I spend a few minutes filming the remoras.

Fortunately, remoras don't find divers

particularly attractive,

so I don't need to worry
about dodging them.

Maybe it's because I don't
have any parasites to clean.

Maybe the scuba bubbles are too loud.

As I end my dive and head up to the boat,

I'm again amazed by the
creatures of the ocean.

I've seen remoras a thousand times

on dives all over the world

and never given them much thought.

It turns out that they
have a fascinating life

and we've probably only
just scratched the surface

in learning about them.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Don't go away,

Jonathan is about to investigate

a ton of friendly stingrays.

[thrilling music]

- [Jonathan] The stingray,

it sounds like a weapon from outer space.

It even looks a little like a spaceship,

but actually it's a
flattened fish with wings,

a close relative to the shark.

But stingrays are almost
never dangerous to people

because they spend most of their time

on the bottom of the ocean

hunting for clams and worms in the sand.

Southern stingrays live
all over the Caribbean.

And nowhere are they
more common than here,

Stingray City on Grand Cayman Island,

this is one of the most famous
marine animal encounters

in the world.

The Cayman Islands are
just to the south of Cuba

in the Caribbean Sea.

These islands are a divers
paradise with lush reefs

and amazingly clear water,

but it's not just divers who come here.

Each day, dozens of cruise
ships come to the Caymans

loaded with tourists.

Many of them come to
interact with the stingrays

and that's why I've come here.

My guide will be artist
and marine biologist,

Dr. Guy Harvey,

who operates a shop here
on Grand Cayman Island.

I stop by to get a look

at some of his famous
paintings of marine life.

Dr. Harvey takes a few minutes
to show me his technique

and his famous signature.

- Great.

Good morning.

- Good morning.

- [Dr. Harvey] How you guys doing today?

- Great, how about you?

And then early the next morning,

well before most ordinary
tourists are awake

with Dr. Harvey and his
daughter Jessica as my guides,

I head out to Stingray City

in hopes of observing
hundreds of stingrays

schooling in formation.

- Well, Jonathan, hopefully
there'll be nobody out there

when we get there,

and we can observe this phenomenon

of the schooling stingrays,

which is, this is the
only place in the world

you'll see it happen.

- [Jonathan] Stingray City itself

is a series of shallow
sandbars on Grand Cayman's

north sound.

When we arrive and drop anchor,
there's nobody else here.

[chain rattles]

[Jonathan exhales]

- It's pretty deep.

I'm in the water for just a few minutes.

When off in the distance,

a squadron of stingrays comes right at me.

[gentle music]

We have the stingray to
ourselves for a while,

but soon enough other
people start to show up.

By mid-afternoon, hundreds
of tourists have arrived

to experience direct
contact with the stingrays.

[woman laughing]

[crowd chattering]

The stingrays come here not
for the contact with people,

but for the never ending buffet.

The tourists, like all good guests,

always bring something for lunch.

A little fish or squid, for example.

By feeding the stingrays,

humans have actually altered
their natural history

here in the Cayman's.

Normally, they're nocturnal animals

feeding at night and
resting during the day.

But things are different at Stingray City,

as Dr. Harvey explains.

- By feeding them all day long,

what we've done is changed that.

They go to sleep at nighttime

because they don't need to forage

and they come here in the daytime.

So the whole deal arrangement of behavior,

feeding behavior has been altered.

- You could never do this
with a truly wild stingray.

These stingrays have been fed
and they're used to people

and they're not afraid.

Normal stingrays, they take off,

but these guys are looking
for a little bit of a handout.

So, that's the really the only reason

we can get this close to them.

But still, the interesting
thing is they are wild animals.

They come to this place to be fed,

but so do the animals that eat them

so they can become victims of shark bites.

They can get hit by boats,
cut up by propellers.

So, it's a pretty dangerous place still,

even though it looks like
it's just an aquarium.

They don't call them
stingrays for nothing.

That's the stinger or a barb.

It's just a really sharp spine
at the base of their tail

and it's their only means of defense.

When they get attacked,

it's the only thing they
have is a little poker.

They use their stinger

to protect themselves
from their predators.

Sharks.

- You know, for a big shark,

this is like coming to Burger King.

- And this is a perfect example

because this male has lost
his tail and half a clasper,

probably to a shark.

But he's doing all right.

He's doing all right.

- All right, we'll let him go.

- The key to catching him, so
I'm told by the experts here,

is you've got to get in front of them.

They keep turning on me.

Okay, here we go. Here we go. There we go.

Nope, turning.

Here we go.

- [Dr. Harvey] There you go.

- There we go. No, don't turn. Don't turn.

[Jonathan and Jessica laugh]

He just jumps right in there.

It's like wrestling an alligator.

- This is the big one.

[Jessica laughs]

- Ready? You ready?

- Yeah.

No, I've got to catch him myself.

Whoa.

[stingray splashes]

[Jonathan laughs]

Hello.

That's a love bite. [laughs]

[Jessica laughs]

The most important part of this

is to keep their head under water

because obviously they can't breathe

if you lift it out of the water.

Jessica has a good example here for you.

If you look on the stingray,
right behind the eye,

there's a giant hole.

You might think it's
the gill, but it isn't,

it's called the spherical.

And it's a little place
where they can inhale water

and then they pump it down

into the sand through their mouth.

And what they do is
they use it like a jet.

They blast little holes in
the sand to hunt for prey.

- So people won't [indistinct].

- Here's a little piece of fish,

a little piece of fish we got going here,

and it smells quite fishy here.

Whoa. Hey yo, take it easy. [laughs]

There's a lot of inhalation
going on on that.

There's a lot to learn about stingrays

and Dr. Harvey leads a group of scientists

who capture, measure and tag the stingrays

to learn about the impact
of human interaction.

They inject electronic chips into them

so they can study them over many years.

The tags go under the
skin, they never fall off

and they don't interfere

with the stingrays natural behavior.

- It works.

We got 100% tag retention,

which is really good for a
study on a population like this.

[uplifting music]

- [Jonathan] Dr. Harvey's
research has shown

that the same individual
stingrays stay here

year after year.

And the bigger more aggressive rays

tend to get more food from people.

So the smaller ones

still have to do a lot
of their own foraging.

He also found that predators like sharks

keep the population of
stingrays under control.

[uplifting music continues]

As for the human impact,

it seems that both humans and stingrays

enjoy the interaction.

They both get something out of the deal.

There is no doubt that
Stingray City is special,

a magical place where the
creatures of the ocean

and those of the land can
meet and find common ground.

[uplifting music continues]