1 00:00:03,536 --> 00:00:08,701 Paradise, for some, is simply an empty beach on a Caribbean island. 2 00:00:09,442 --> 00:00:14,641 But for wild creatures this is not a destination, but a dividing line. 3 00:00:15,582 --> 00:00:19,814 Here the tranquil inland world comes to an end and a far more 4 00:00:19,953 --> 00:00:22,979 complex and surprising one begins. 5 00:00:23,823 --> 00:00:27,190 Vast coral reefs and sandy plains shimmer beneath 6 00:00:27,327 --> 00:00:29,386 the crystal Caribbean Sea. 7 00:00:29,696 --> 00:00:34,633 And the tropical sun illuminates an array of living jewels. 8 00:00:45,678 --> 00:00:49,273 Here are creatures rare and fantastic. 9 00:00:49,416 --> 00:00:53,682 Here are figments of our nightmares and flights of wonderful fancy 10 00:00:53,820 --> 00:00:55,845 from our dreams. 11 00:02:00,820 --> 00:02:04,256 In waters famed for hidden treasure, another kind of wealth is 12 00:02:04,390 --> 00:02:06,085 stunningly abundant. 13 00:02:06,993 --> 00:02:12,693 Here, immersed in beauty and subtle mystery, we now discover 14 00:02:12,832 --> 00:02:15,767 the JEWELS oF THE C ARIBBEAN SEA. 15 00:03:07,287 --> 00:03:08,686 The largest living structures 16 00:03:08,821 --> 00:03:12,848 onplanet Earth are controlled from outer space. 17 00:03:13,593 --> 00:03:17,962 Every year, with uncanny precision, the orbiting moon somehow 18 00:03:18,031 --> 00:03:24,061 sets in motion the process of spawning in coral reefs throughout the world. 19 00:03:42,222 --> 00:03:46,283 The same response occurs at different times in great coral reef systems 20 00:03:46,426 --> 00:03:51,523 from the Red Sea to the pacific and greater Caribbean. 21 00:03:53,499 --> 00:03:58,630 Tiny bundles of brain coral eggs and sperm rise like miniature moons. 22 00:03:58,771 --> 00:04:01,239 Millions of them flood the sea. 23 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:16,955 Different species of coral respond in different ways. 24 00:04:17,123 --> 00:04:20,092 Some corals are hermaphroditic and release packages 25 00:04:20,226 --> 00:04:23,127 that contain both eggs and sperm. 26 00:04:24,664 --> 00:04:26,962 Other types release them separately. 27 00:04:32,472 --> 00:04:37,500 It is all unbelievably subtle and complex. 28 00:04:38,878 --> 00:04:42,644 The great blooming mass of eggs and sperm floats to the surface 29 00:04:42,782 --> 00:04:46,445 where the eggs will be fertilized and become larvae. 30 00:04:59,599 --> 00:05:02,090 The larvae will drift, sometimes for many weeks, 31 00:05:02,235 --> 00:05:05,932 Before setting to be bottom and perhaps beginning a new reef 32 00:05:06,072 --> 00:05:08,131 a hundred miles away. 33 00:05:12,979 --> 00:05:16,745 The result of a few minute coral larvae given thousands of years 34 00:05:16,883 --> 00:05:22,549 to grow and reproduce can be this a city in the sea the glory 35 00:05:22,689 --> 00:05:24,384 of the Caribbean. 36 00:05:28,828 --> 00:05:32,355 It is home to creatures as tiny as a single bacteria 37 00:05:32,498 --> 00:05:36,059 as huge as the manta ray. 38 00:05:50,616 --> 00:05:54,985 Coral reefs may be hundreds of feet thick, many miles in length. 39 00:05:55,221 --> 00:05:59,555 They are by far the largest structures created by living creatures. 40 00:06:01,494 --> 00:06:06,431 Yet they are made almost entirely from the skeletons of tiny coral polyps, 41 00:06:06,566 --> 00:06:09,160 some the size of a single pearl. 42 00:06:11,704 --> 00:06:14,730 The living coral grows about half an inch a year. 43 00:06:15,041 --> 00:06:19,273 It lies upon the skeletons of dead coral, layer upon layer. 44 00:06:20,513 --> 00:06:23,641 Along the edge of the reef we are seeing growth that took 45 00:06:23,783 --> 00:06:25,512 thousands of years. 46 00:06:30,723 --> 00:06:35,422 Twenty feet down we are on the reef that Columbus might have seen. 47 00:06:39,165 --> 00:06:43,192 At 85 feet we are in the time of Christ. 48 00:06:46,739 --> 00:06:51,472 At 180 feet we have reached the time of the pyramids. 49 00:06:58,384 --> 00:07:01,911 Around the reef great predators roam. 50 00:07:07,326 --> 00:07:11,922 A Caribbean reef shark snaps up the weak and the unwary. 51 00:07:33,252 --> 00:07:39,623 These swift killers don't always prevail. In slow motion a small snapper 52 00:07:39,759 --> 00:07:43,786 makes a quick turn, tumbles down the shark's back, 53 00:07:44,063 --> 00:07:46,088 and slips off its tail. 54 00:07:50,136 --> 00:07:56,041 Those that escape a shark may fall victim to a black grouper. 55 00:08:01,314 --> 00:08:05,444 But the coral city is a community of strange alliances where the threat 56 00:08:05,585 --> 00:08:09,248 of sudden death can be mysteriously suspended. 57 00:08:10,957 --> 00:08:16,327 This coral head is a special place. It's called a cleaning station. 58 00:08:16,996 --> 00:08:21,626 Tiny cleaner gobies cluster near the base of the coral head. 59 00:08:22,401 --> 00:08:25,700 The tiger grouper often visits here. 60 00:08:26,305 --> 00:08:29,274 Trusting in an ancient and mysterious relationship, 61 00:08:29,408 --> 00:08:32,571 the gobies do not hesitate at the tiger's mouth. 62 00:08:37,183 --> 00:08:39,811 The gobies are allowed to crawl all over, 63 00:08:39,986 --> 00:08:42,648 feeding on parasites and dead tissue. 64 00:08:42,788 --> 00:08:48,226 In return, every inch of the grouper is sanitized and groomed. 65 00:09:02,742 --> 00:09:07,236 Other cleaners have other clients. This pederson shrimp, 66 00:09:07,380 --> 00:09:10,907 waving its white antennae, is issuing an invitation 67 00:09:11,050 --> 00:09:14,178 and is accepted by a Nassau grouper. 68 00:09:20,393 --> 00:09:24,955 Cleaning is a striking example of symbiotic behavior. 69 00:09:25,398 --> 00:09:28,731 As a result of its service, the cleaner is fed. 70 00:09:28,868 --> 00:09:32,304 And the fish that is cleaned is healthier as a result. 71 00:09:32,572 --> 00:09:35,769 But researchers suspect that the simple pleasure it provides 72 00:09:35,975 --> 00:09:41,936 is also important a sensuous interval in the struggle to survive. 73 00:09:44,517 --> 00:09:47,111 The shrimp is allowed astonishing liberites. 74 00:09:47,253 --> 00:09:50,950 It crawls through the delicate gills in search of tiny parasites 75 00:09:51,057 --> 00:09:53,116 that irritate the host. 76 00:09:57,063 --> 00:10:00,897 On the reef many creatures may not travel more than a few inches 77 00:10:01,033 --> 00:10:03,399 in their entire lives. 78 00:10:04,136 --> 00:10:08,664 But others are visitors creatures who have come here on journeys 79 00:10:08,808 --> 00:10:11,242 of thousands of miles. 80 00:10:20,753 --> 00:10:23,916 During these winter months, parts of the Caribbean fill 81 00:10:24,056 --> 00:10:26,752 with the music of humpback whales. 82 00:10:43,376 --> 00:10:46,470 The whales come here from far to the north. 83 00:10:46,912 --> 00:10:49,779 Little or no feeding takes place during the several months 84 00:10:49,915 --> 00:10:51,405 they stay here. 85 00:10:51,651 --> 00:10:55,644 Males give themselves to fighting for the right to escort a females, 86 00:10:55,788 --> 00:11:00,225 and females are giving birth and caring for their calves. 87 00:11:08,834 --> 00:11:12,793 In early spring they'll head back north as far as Greenland 88 00:11:13,005 --> 00:11:17,339 and Barffin Island one of the greatest migrations in the ocean. 89 00:11:20,513 --> 00:11:24,040 In a winter storm a hundred years ago, a steel sailing ship 90 00:11:24,183 --> 00:11:25,241 carrying molasses 91 00:11:25,384 --> 00:11:30,754 from Caribbean plantations sank here on Little Bahama bank 92 00:11:31,157 --> 00:11:33,990 Drifting coral larvae have settled on the wreck, 93 00:11:34,093 --> 00:11:37,426 and a new reef city is being born. 94 00:11:44,303 --> 00:11:47,101 Coral polyps absorb calcium from seawater, 95 00:11:47,239 --> 00:11:48,365 which they use to create 96 00:11:48,507 --> 00:11:53,604 the hard structures that make up a reef home for a new community 97 00:11:53,746 --> 00:11:56,374 ofjewel-like inhabitants. 98 00:12:24,677 --> 00:12:27,441 >From its den beneath the collapsed bow of the wreck, a 99 00:12:27,580 --> 00:12:28,979 loggerhead turtle 100 00:12:29,048 --> 00:12:31,744 emerges to greet a new day. 101 00:12:43,896 --> 00:12:49,061 Turtles, like whales, are tied to the surface by their need for air. 102 00:12:49,201 --> 00:12:52,534 The loggerhead must breathe every 30 minutes or so. 103 00:12:53,506 --> 00:12:58,705 Then he continues this leisurely but unrelenting search for food. 104 00:13:01,981 --> 00:13:05,314 The slipper lobster has sacrificed speed for the protection 105 00:13:05,451 --> 00:13:07,078 of camouflage. 106 00:13:08,287 --> 00:13:12,690 Not exactly lightning fast himself, the loggerhead relies on persistence 107 00:13:12,825 --> 00:13:15,157 and his powerful jaws. 108 00:13:48,661 --> 00:13:51,892 Above the wreck, swifter predators are waiting. 109 00:13:53,265 --> 00:13:57,361 The barracuda hovers around the reef most of the day. 110 00:13:57,503 --> 00:13:59,494 Smaller fish tend to ignore it. 111 00:13:59,638 --> 00:14:04,098 But everything can change in an instant if it gets hungry. 112 00:14:05,010 --> 00:14:08,173 The highly maneuverable yellowtail snapper can sometimes 113 00:14:08,314 --> 00:14:10,544 avoid becoming a meal. 114 00:14:13,586 --> 00:14:18,853 These waters also swarm with ballyhoo often not as fortunate. 115 00:14:28,601 --> 00:14:31,968 This is one of the most intelligent creatures on the reef 116 00:14:32,538 --> 00:14:34,972 the Caribbean reef squid. 117 00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:38,969 It is a creature from another world. 118 00:14:40,746 --> 00:14:45,240 Their skins are alive with signals of great sophistication. 119 00:14:46,285 --> 00:14:49,982 Not only can they warm that a predator is near, but they can even 120 00:14:50,055 --> 00:14:53,513 distinguish one predator from another. 121 00:15:01,567 --> 00:15:05,264 Males competing for the affections of a female engage in a kind of 122 00:15:05,404 --> 00:15:10,933 visual combat, displaying spectacular colors and patterns. 123 00:15:12,778 --> 00:15:17,545 No damage is done, the contest is highly ritualized. 124 00:15:30,396 --> 00:15:33,957 Squid & courtship is also very visual a synchronized and 125 00:15:34,099 --> 00:15:35,999 extravagant display. 126 00:15:54,620 --> 00:15:59,819 The actual mating however, is so brief, it's almost invisible. 127 00:16:01,427 --> 00:16:04,396 The male lunges at the female with a special arm, 128 00:16:04,530 --> 00:16:07,465 attaching to her a packet of sperm. 129 00:16:09,201 --> 00:16:12,967 The female can take her time deciding if she will accept the packet for 130 00:16:13,105 --> 00:16:16,097 self-fertilization or later get rid of it, 131 00:16:16,241 --> 00:16:18,835 rejecting it in favor of another. 132 00:16:23,182 --> 00:16:26,049 In spring many reef creatures are breeding. 133 00:16:26,852 --> 00:16:30,845 Excited schools of mating fish dance frenetically and animate 134 00:16:30,990 --> 00:16:32,651 the placid Caribbean. 135 00:16:51,677 --> 00:16:56,546 After mating, the male yellowhead jawfish is left by himself 136 00:16:56,682 --> 00:16:58,741 with the fertilized eggs. 137 00:16:59,284 --> 00:17:00,911 He has them in his mouth, 138 00:17:01,020 --> 00:17:04,922 spitting them out from time to time to aerate them. 139 00:17:09,428 --> 00:17:13,125 For five days he'll continue his tender vigil until 140 00:17:13,265 --> 00:17:16,632 the baby jawfish finally hatch. 141 00:17:25,978 --> 00:17:30,176 Hundreds of Cerole wrasse school in long columns as they migrate 142 00:17:30,315 --> 00:17:33,045 every day across the reef. 143 00:17:40,492 --> 00:17:45,020 They are deadly marauders, attacking new generations of other fish. 144 00:17:45,831 --> 00:17:48,959 Parrotfish are spawning, and the arriving Creole wrasse 145 00:17:49,034 --> 00:17:51,628 rush in to gorge themselves. 146 00:17:52,004 --> 00:17:56,270 They eat the eggs the moment they are released by the female parrotfish. 147 00:18:12,024 --> 00:18:15,960 Thousands of eggs vanish in a few seconds, but inevitably 148 00:18:16,095 --> 00:18:21,624 some escape and a few tiny parrotfish survivors will inherit the reef. 149 00:18:23,802 --> 00:18:27,238 The Creole wrasse stop by a cleaning station. 150 00:18:27,706 --> 00:18:31,699 Ajuvenile Spanish hogfish fearlessly takes them on. 151 00:18:31,977 --> 00:18:36,175 It dashes from wrasse to wrasse checking for parasites. 152 00:18:36,982 --> 00:18:41,351 Requesting to be cleaned, the Creole wrasse stand on their head. 153 00:18:41,487 --> 00:18:45,651 Then, as the hogfish moves on, the next wrasse dashes eagerly to 154 00:18:45,791 --> 00:18:47,349 the head of the line 155 00:19:01,173 --> 00:19:05,906 The smoke rising from this barrel sponge is a dense cloud of sperm. 156 00:19:09,248 --> 00:19:12,581 When a sponge starts to spawn, it triggers a chain reaction 157 00:19:12,718 --> 00:19:18,247 along the reef as others of the same species hurry to mix their spawn. 158 00:19:18,657 --> 00:19:21,922 The sea is aswarm with their fertility. 159 00:19:40,045 --> 00:19:43,344 High over the teeming city, clouds are gathering. 160 00:19:46,752 --> 00:19:50,779 This is a springtime swarm of thimble jellies. 161 00:20:12,044 --> 00:20:16,310 Ninety-five percent water, without brains or complex nervous systems, 162 00:20:16,448 --> 00:20:19,906 they are little more than fragments of the sea itself. 163 00:20:20,852 --> 00:20:23,878 Each is the size of a thumbnail. 164 00:20:49,715 --> 00:20:52,240 Thimble jellyfish are armed with stinging cells 165 00:20:52,384 --> 00:20:54,284 that carry a mild venom. 166 00:20:54,419 --> 00:20:57,911 But this doesn't seem to discourage many inhabitants of the reef. 167 00:21:11,003 --> 00:21:14,063 The clouds of thimble jellies drift out into the open sea 168 00:21:14,206 --> 00:21:16,834 and into the haunt of giants. 169 00:21:22,147 --> 00:21:25,981 Sperm whales spend most of their days diving far underwater 170 00:21:26,118 --> 00:21:27,983 where they hunt for squid. 171 00:21:28,820 --> 00:21:33,086 They surface every 45 minutes or so to breathe and bask 172 00:21:33,225 --> 00:21:35,022 in the Caribbean sun. 173 00:21:43,869 --> 00:21:47,100 But not all sperm whales plunge into the deep. 174 00:21:47,339 --> 00:21:50,775 Newborn calves lack the endurance to make these epic dives 175 00:21:50,909 --> 00:21:54,367 and must wait near the surface for their mothers to return to them. 176 00:21:58,450 --> 00:22:03,786 This calf lools in a gentle sea as his mother descends a quarter of a mile. 177 00:22:04,289 --> 00:22:07,781 As she soars through the darKness and searches undersea canyons 178 00:22:07,993 --> 00:22:10,086 far below him in pursuit of squid, 179 00:22:10,228 --> 00:22:13,356 he can still hear her familiar sonar clicks. 180 00:22:16,168 --> 00:22:21,333 Fearless and playful, the lone baby whale turns and spins, exploring 181 00:22:21,473 --> 00:22:27,036 the dexterity of his great body in the weightless freedom of oceanic space. 182 00:22:39,358 --> 00:22:43,522 He is covered with remoras, harmless companions who cling to him 183 00:22:43,662 --> 00:22:46,290 for a spectacular free ride. 184 00:22:46,698 --> 00:22:50,259 When he learns to dive, they will probably leave him, 185 00:22:50,402 --> 00:22:53,735 unable to stand the cold and pressure of the abyss. 186 00:23:48,894 --> 00:23:52,660 The baby whale hears his mother returning and joins her to explore 187 00:23:52,798 --> 00:23:58,395 their favorite waters deep channels off volcanic islands in the Caribbean. 188 00:24:01,206 --> 00:24:06,439 They swim by islands packed with more and more hotels and holiday homes. 189 00:24:07,612 --> 00:24:12,777 Seemingly lush and abundant, Caribbean ecosystems are very vulnerable 190 00:24:12,984 --> 00:24:15,077 to the tourists who come here. 191 00:24:15,387 --> 00:24:19,255 To make room for them, native vegetations is stripped away. 192 00:24:19,591 --> 00:24:23,618 Over the years ecosystems disappear and so do the creatures 193 00:24:23,762 --> 00:24:27,198 that inhabit them on land and in the sea. 194 00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:34,132 The dark patches behinds the shelter of the reef are prairies of turtle grass. 195 00:24:34,439 --> 00:24:38,068 They cover hundreds of square miles of the shallow banks. 196 00:24:41,046 --> 00:24:46,006 This is home to a manatee. Once great numbers of 197 00:24:46,151 --> 00:24:49,177 these gentle undersea mammals grazed here. 198 00:24:49,321 --> 00:24:54,088 How the sight of one is like encountering a lone buffalo 199 00:24:54,226 --> 00:24:56,387 on the midwestern prairie. 200 00:24:57,496 --> 00:25:02,399 Remoras cling to the manatee. They get food from its waste. 201 00:25:02,834 --> 00:25:06,793 The lone manatee probably gains nothing but companionship. 202 00:25:08,673 --> 00:25:12,234 The gentle stately manatee faces many dangers. 203 00:25:12,377 --> 00:25:16,143 Today, its greatest enemy is probably pollution. 204 00:25:17,983 --> 00:25:23,182 Easy targets for a harpoon, manatees once were hunted almost to extinction, 205 00:25:23,321 --> 00:25:26,290 and poachers still take them when they can. 206 00:25:28,994 --> 00:25:32,725 Only the tip of the snout is exposed while breathing. 207 00:25:40,906 --> 00:25:46,344 Manatees are highly vulnerable to being hit by motor boats and jet skis. 208 00:25:46,478 --> 00:25:50,539 Many bear propeller scars and many die of their wounds. 209 00:25:56,021 --> 00:25:59,923 When manatees are not feeding, they are often sleeping. 210 00:26:00,725 --> 00:26:05,059 Despite the camera, this one is just dropping off. 211 00:26:09,301 --> 00:26:14,933 There he's fast asleep, oblivious to the tide of change 212 00:26:15,073 --> 00:26:17,268 sweeping away his world. 213 00:26:22,614 --> 00:26:25,947 The manatee's fate, and that of dozens of other species, 214 00:26:26,051 --> 00:26:29,509 depends largely on strangers who pass this way briefly 215 00:26:29,654 --> 00:26:33,090 and travel in splendid isolation. 216 00:26:45,403 --> 00:26:49,362 Few of these travelers are aware of their fatal impact on the wonders 217 00:26:49,507 --> 00:26:52,738 all about them, great and small. 218 00:26:56,848 --> 00:26:59,248 The reef at night. 219 00:27:01,853 --> 00:27:08,224 Many fish sleep. This redtail parrotfish slumbers with eyes open, 220 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:11,227 lying on her side on the coral. 221 00:27:15,166 --> 00:27:19,432 As a prelude to mating, a spiny lobster male gently caresses 222 00:27:19,571 --> 00:27:22,005 the carapace of a female. 223 00:27:30,415 --> 00:27:35,318 Lobster larvae, when they are born, look like spun glass. 224 00:27:43,128 --> 00:27:47,827 The spiny lobster female helps her tiny larvae into the world. 225 00:27:49,167 --> 00:27:52,603 She agitates her tail to help move them out into the current. 226 00:27:58,643 --> 00:28:03,376 By the thousands the tiny larvae drift past their mother's eye, 227 00:28:03,515 --> 00:28:06,177 never to be seen by her again. 228 00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:21,192 Larvae, eggs, plankton, and tiny fish all drift out from the reef, 229 00:28:21,332 --> 00:28:25,564 a dazzling assortment of creatures cast with seeming carelessness 230 00:28:25,704 --> 00:28:27,934 onto the sea wind. 231 00:28:32,143 --> 00:28:40,448 This is a venomous sea wasp. Its stinging tentacles find larval fish, 232 00:28:40,585 --> 00:28:44,282 which are quickly anesthetized and consumed. 233 00:28:51,196 --> 00:28:55,963 Reef squid lie in wait for passing fish and crustaceans. 234 00:28:57,402 --> 00:29:02,362 And out of the darKness a giant manta ray joins the feast. 235 00:29:05,810 --> 00:29:09,541 The manta loops to stay in the area most dense with plankton. 236 00:29:09,681 --> 00:29:13,173 It's maneuver as graceful as it is efficient. 237 00:29:26,464 --> 00:29:29,490 The arms on either side of her face are cephalic lobes 238 00:29:29,634 --> 00:29:32,797 that channel plankton into a foot-wide mouth. 239 00:29:36,708 --> 00:29:42,203 Her wings span six feet and she weights several hundred pounds. 240 00:29:48,319 --> 00:29:52,415 All night the eerie feast of plankton will go on. 241 00:29:57,462 --> 00:30:01,262 Out on the prairie a pearlfish stands on its head, 242 00:30:01,399 --> 00:30:04,266 mimicking the surrounding turtle grass. 243 00:30:04,702 --> 00:30:07,603 Camouflage makes it almost invisible. 244 00:30:14,479 --> 00:30:18,176 This unappealing animal is a sea cucumber. 245 00:30:18,583 --> 00:30:21,575 It consumes sediments, which are filtered internally for 246 00:30:21,719 --> 00:30:24,517 digestible bits of organic matter. 247 00:30:24,823 --> 00:30:31,251 It is also home for the pearlfish. When in danger, the pearlfish 248 00:30:31,396 --> 00:30:34,627 Locates the rear end of the sea cucumber with its nose. 249 00:30:34,866 --> 00:30:38,825 Then it inserts its sharply tapered tail and slips back into 250 00:30:38,970 --> 00:30:43,839 the cucumber's anus to reach a safe hiding place in the intestine. 251 00:30:46,244 --> 00:30:49,111 The pearlfish obviously benefits. 252 00:30:49,547 --> 00:30:54,075 But what's in it for the sea cucumber, if anything, is not Known. 253 00:30:58,323 --> 00:31:03,090 Comes a sultry Caribbean dawn, and the placid sea gives no hint 254 00:31:03,228 --> 00:31:05,219 of the night's events. 255 00:31:14,505 --> 00:31:19,966 A baby loggerhead turtle emerges from the sand to greet its first day. 256 00:31:21,312 --> 00:31:24,748 It begins a life that could last more than 60 years, 257 00:31:24,883 --> 00:31:27,681 orjust a few minutes. 258 00:31:29,287 --> 00:31:33,519 Turtles produce abundant young, but only a few will survive 259 00:31:33,658 --> 00:31:35,785 to carry on their species. 260 00:31:48,439 --> 00:31:51,738 The baby heads instinctively for its ocean home. 261 00:31:53,945 --> 00:31:58,143 If a female, she may return to this very beach to lay her own eggs 262 00:31:58,283 --> 00:31:59,978 in 25 years or so. 263 00:32:00,118 --> 00:32:04,282 If a male, he will never again leave the water. 264 00:32:17,568 --> 00:32:20,867 Now the baby turtle must cross the reef and make its way to 265 00:32:21,005 --> 00:32:25,135 the open ocean. It's a dangerous crossing. 266 00:32:25,276 --> 00:32:29,736 Predators gather quickly when the sea is full of hatching turtles. 267 00:32:32,550 --> 00:32:34,609 But this turtle is lucky. 268 00:32:34,752 --> 00:32:39,587 After 36 hours of nonstop swimming, the hatchling finds shelter. 269 00:32:40,391 --> 00:32:45,021 It will spend its first year near the sargassum fronds, later head north, 270 00:32:45,163 --> 00:32:49,725 then eastward across the Atlantic to the Azores and the Canary Islands. 271 00:32:52,036 --> 00:32:56,268 The flotsam of the sea accumulates where ocean currents converge. 272 00:32:56,407 --> 00:33:00,434 Sargassum weed and other drifting plant and animal life also gather here, 273 00:33:00,578 --> 00:33:03,809 along with an increasing mass of human rubbish. 274 00:33:09,187 --> 00:33:12,816 Jellyfish congregate here too, and one is the first meal 275 00:33:12,991 --> 00:33:15,323 for the newly hatched loggerhead. 276 00:33:36,180 --> 00:33:38,648 These waters often teem with jellyfish 277 00:33:38,783 --> 00:33:41,775 and some of them are voracious predators. 278 00:33:42,754 --> 00:33:47,691 This large stinging cauliflower has captured several moon jellies. 279 00:33:47,825 --> 00:33:50,794 They are helpless in its deadly tentacles. 280 00:33:53,131 --> 00:33:56,999 The medusa fish may be resistant to the cauliflower's stinging cells 281 00:33:57,101 --> 00:33:59,695 orjust incredibly nimble. 282 00:34:00,405 --> 00:34:03,772 It feeds on scraps and leftovers from the cauliflower's meals 283 00:34:03,975 --> 00:34:08,469 and uses the broad bell as a personal magic carpet. 284 00:34:26,030 --> 00:34:28,828 Convergent currents drive moon jellyfish together 285 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:31,025 by the tens of thousands. 286 00:34:32,336 --> 00:34:37,535 Their translucent bodies form a gently pulsing cathedral in the sea. 287 00:35:29,127 --> 00:35:34,087 The sargassum weed is a safe nursery for many Caribbean reef fish. 288 00:35:34,799 --> 00:35:39,759 Spawned on the reef, schools of baby fish hide here in the open sea 289 00:35:39,904 --> 00:35:43,965 until they are old enough to return to their more hazardous home. 290 00:35:49,046 --> 00:35:52,015 A loggerhead turtle is hunting for lobster. 291 00:35:58,022 --> 00:36:00,547 The lobster uses its spiny antennae. 292 00:36:00,691 --> 00:36:03,956 They are covered with sharp barbs and the lobster aims them 293 00:36:04,095 --> 00:36:06,928 at the turtle's eyes with uncanny accuracy. 294 00:36:33,991 --> 00:36:39,019 Eventually the loggerhead discouraged and returns to his home in the wreck 295 00:36:39,363 --> 00:36:42,764 In a long, slow-paced life, one lobster more or less 296 00:36:42,900 --> 00:36:44,595 makes little difference. 297 00:36:47,471 --> 00:36:50,269 Adult loggerheads lead settled lives. 298 00:36:50,408 --> 00:36:54,344 They hunt by day and at night usually hole up to sleep 299 00:36:54,478 --> 00:36:56,412 in a favorite crevice. 300 00:37:05,289 --> 00:37:09,191 Another turtle, a hawksbill, is on the prowl. 301 00:37:09,694 --> 00:37:11,787 She eats sponges. 302 00:37:12,096 --> 00:37:15,691 She spends her days searching out the varieties she likes best. 303 00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:19,829 When she finds one, she contents herself with just a few bites 304 00:37:19,971 --> 00:37:21,495 and then moves on. 305 00:37:23,274 --> 00:37:25,174 The sponge will survive. 306 00:37:25,309 --> 00:37:29,643 Its tissue will heal and later the turtle will be back for more. 307 00:37:32,016 --> 00:37:36,146 For the French angelfish the sponge is now an easy meal, 308 00:37:36,287 --> 00:37:39,484 because the turtle has torn through its outer layer. 309 00:37:45,363 --> 00:37:48,230 But this sponge has a defender. 310 00:37:48,799 --> 00:37:51,734 Some damselfish are farmers. 311 00:37:51,869 --> 00:37:56,670 They cultivate patches of algae on sponges that they rely on for food. 312 00:38:06,751 --> 00:38:10,983 Although the queen angelfish is many times the size of a damsel, 313 00:38:11,122 --> 00:38:13,317 the little fish is unrelenting. 314 00:38:13,557 --> 00:38:17,516 It will attack almost anything to protect the algae farm. 315 00:38:25,303 --> 00:38:29,364 Other kinds of algae have changed the face of the Caribbean. 316 00:38:30,007 --> 00:38:34,842 As they grow, several species concentrate calcium in their tissues. 317 00:38:35,179 --> 00:38:38,740 When they die, the calcified skeletons of these plants decompose 318 00:38:38,883 --> 00:38:40,817 and become find sand. 319 00:38:41,986 --> 00:38:46,047 It's Known for its delicate grain and brilliant whiteness. 320 00:38:46,791 --> 00:38:51,057 After thousands of years this sand has created sand banks that can stretch 321 00:38:51,195 --> 00:38:54,289 for miles between and shore. 322 00:39:09,246 --> 00:39:14,115 Plains of this and other types of sand are scattered throughout the Caribbean. 323 00:39:15,186 --> 00:39:18,747 Seemingly barren deserts, they are home for many creatures 324 00:39:18,956 --> 00:39:22,517 that specialize in concealment and camouflage. 325 00:39:23,794 --> 00:39:27,195 A male peacock flounder has excellent eyesight. 326 00:39:27,465 --> 00:39:31,492 He watches from a high sand mound, trying to spot a mate. 327 00:39:34,438 --> 00:39:36,599 At last, a female. 328 00:39:37,208 --> 00:39:41,338 He confronts her and displays his long pectoral fin. 329 00:39:41,712 --> 00:39:44,579 Seducing her will not be easy. 330 00:39:45,049 --> 00:39:50,749 The female is not sufficiently impressed. He must try again. 331 00:40:00,965 --> 00:40:04,128 He displays all the signals signals proper for his species, 332 00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:06,563 but still she is unresponsive. 333 00:40:07,204 --> 00:40:10,435 A cold fish indeed. 334 00:40:23,821 --> 00:40:27,882 A curious mutton snapper butts in just as the reluctant female 335 00:40:28,025 --> 00:40:30,425 begins to show some interest. 336 00:40:41,505 --> 00:40:44,030 Finally she responds. 337 00:40:50,414 --> 00:40:56,114 It all ends with a single exquisite shiver and a tiny puff of spawn. 338 00:41:07,798 --> 00:41:10,858 During the long summer day the voices of dolphins 339 00:41:11,001 --> 00:41:14,061 can often be heard across the sandy plains. 340 00:41:17,341 --> 00:41:20,970 These are Atlantic spotted dolphin. 341 00:41:22,346 --> 00:41:26,806 Like other mammals, dolphin babies are nourished by mother's milk, 342 00:41:27,017 --> 00:41:30,111 which is squirted into their mouths under pressure. 343 00:41:30,621 --> 00:41:35,115 Baby spotted dolphins don't develop their spots for a few years. 344 00:41:36,594 --> 00:41:39,893 Dolphins are social and very intelligent animals, 345 00:41:40,030 --> 00:41:44,091 and their private lives are highly visible here in the open. 346 00:41:49,907 --> 00:41:53,502 These dolphins relax here after a night of vigorous hunting. 347 00:41:53,644 --> 00:41:55,669 During the day the look for flounder 348 00:41:55,813 --> 00:41:59,249 and razorfish that lie concealed on the bottom. 349 00:42:03,554 --> 00:42:06,648 The dolphin's sensitive sonar can locate prey partially buried 350 00:42:06,790 --> 00:42:07,984 in the sand. 351 00:42:08,425 --> 00:42:12,862 Once discovered, a small fish has little chance to escape. 352 00:42:19,537 --> 00:42:22,062 Dolphin's are extremely efficient hunters. 353 00:42:22,373 --> 00:42:25,365 They are very playful and have plenty of time to fool around. 354 00:42:26,410 --> 00:42:29,106 Like chimpanzees and other intelligent mammals, 355 00:42:29,246 --> 00:42:33,342 they often reinforce their social bonds with sexual behavior. 356 00:42:45,396 --> 00:42:49,025 What starts as gentle foreplay soon turns to mating. 357 00:42:49,266 --> 00:42:51,791 Dolphins mate belly to belly. 358 00:43:06,617 --> 00:43:10,519 The large gray dolphins here are male bottlenose dolphins 359 00:43:10,654 --> 00:43:13,521 a completely different species. 360 00:43:15,192 --> 00:43:19,595 Female spotted dolphins pet the bottlenoses and coax them to play. 361 00:43:20,831 --> 00:43:24,062 Soon this becomes a sensual frenzy. 362 00:43:24,368 --> 00:43:29,305 The two species will mate, an event only recently recorded in the wild. 363 00:43:30,074 --> 00:43:35,239 As a result there may be hybrid young, but they will probably be sterile 364 00:43:35,379 --> 00:43:37,973 and have no offspring of their own. 365 00:43:44,154 --> 00:43:47,646 Dolphins show hyper-sexuality in captivity 366 00:43:47,791 --> 00:43:50,555 and this is often attributed to boredom. 367 00:43:50,694 --> 00:43:54,357 But films like this confirm that they are also highly sexual 368 00:43:54,498 --> 00:43:56,090 in the wild. 369 00:44:05,542 --> 00:44:10,172 It has never been demonstrate that dolphins have language as we Know it. 370 00:44:10,648 --> 00:44:14,345 But these dolphin vocalizations, slowed down six times, 371 00:44:14,485 --> 00:44:17,750 show just how much information could be conveyed 372 00:44:17,888 --> 00:44:20,254 by their intricate sounds. 373 00:44:39,243 --> 00:44:43,976 The dolphin language, if any, remains an unsolved riddle to science. 374 00:44:45,249 --> 00:44:50,016 Whatever their meaning, dolphin sounds are rich and varied, an essential part 375 00:44:50,154 --> 00:44:54,818 of their social lives and an expression of their soaring spirit. 376 00:45:15,679 --> 00:45:20,207 For weeks in summer the dolphins' playground is mirror-still, 377 00:45:20,350 --> 00:45:24,810 a warm and crystal sea seemingly frozen in time. 378 00:45:27,891 --> 00:45:32,726 Then, finally, the long summer ends when the first winter storm clouds 379 00:45:32,863 --> 00:45:35,457 start to gather over the reef. 380 00:45:55,152 --> 00:45:57,985 The jewels of the Caribbean take shelter. 381 00:46:29,620 --> 00:46:33,818 As winter arrives among the creatures that seek safety and security 382 00:46:33,991 --> 00:46:37,085 on the reef is the spiny lobster. 383 00:46:43,567 --> 00:46:47,230 Lobsters group together and dash for the safety of deep water 384 00:46:47,371 --> 00:46:49,271 at the edge of the reef. 385 00:46:49,907 --> 00:46:53,274 They are in the open here, vulnerable to predators, 386 00:46:53,410 --> 00:46:55,970 so speed equals survival. 387 00:46:59,416 --> 00:47:01,179 One lobster takes the lead, 388 00:47:01,318 --> 00:47:04,981 seeking the shortest course to the protection of the reef. 389 00:47:05,756 --> 00:47:10,420 Each following lobster uses its antennae to engage the one ahead. 390 00:47:11,628 --> 00:47:15,428 Like racing cars, they take advantage of the draft. 391 00:47:15,966 --> 00:47:21,063 The train of lobsters makes the trip faster than one could traveling alone. 392 00:47:31,982 --> 00:47:34,177 Their trek ends at the reef. 393 00:47:34,318 --> 00:47:38,118 Here they find calm water protected from storms. 394 00:47:39,289 --> 00:47:42,520 Spreading out over the reef, each will find a sheltering hole 395 00:47:42,659 --> 00:47:46,459 or crevice that will serve as its winter home. 396 00:47:50,100 --> 00:47:53,729 Another winter visitor has only just arrived. 397 00:48:13,423 --> 00:48:15,584 Returning to this city in the sea, 398 00:48:15,726 --> 00:48:18,695 humpback whales have come back from the north. 399 00:48:20,831 --> 00:48:23,698 A mother humpback whale is sleeping. 400 00:48:23,834 --> 00:48:26,496 Her newborn calf snuggles under her chin. 401 00:48:40,350 --> 00:48:44,616 Calves spend their days playing, nursing, and just basking 402 00:48:44,755 --> 00:48:47,588 in an ocean filled with the songs of whales. 403 00:48:51,561 --> 00:48:55,964 The Caribbean is an ideal nursery for the baby humpbacks. 404 00:48:56,166 --> 00:49:00,569 They're 12 to 14 feet long at birth and grow very quickly. 405 00:49:00,704 --> 00:49:05,038 They'll each take up to 50 gallons of milk a day and soon be strong enough 406 00:49:05,175 --> 00:49:07,405 to make the long journey north. 407 00:49:08,111 --> 00:49:12,047 The round trip is over 8,000 miles. 408 00:49:13,750 --> 00:49:18,278 Once these humpback whales were hunted almost to extinction. 409 00:49:18,422 --> 00:49:21,482 Only a hundred or so wintered in the Caribbean. 410 00:49:21,758 --> 00:49:24,727 Now they have made a modest comeback 411 00:49:25,128 --> 00:49:28,120 But all is not well in their environment. 412 00:49:28,265 --> 00:49:33,168 Each time they return, these waters are increasingly unfamiliar. 413 00:49:34,972 --> 00:49:39,602 This area once included thousands of manatees, reef sharks, and grouper. 414 00:49:39,743 --> 00:49:41,938 Now many of them are gone. 415 00:49:42,312 --> 00:49:47,045 The reef itself has declined. Many of its jewels are missing. 416 00:49:47,351 --> 00:49:51,685 In just a few years there has been dramatic change. 417 00:49:55,826 --> 00:49:58,624 One reason is a new predator, ever more common, 418 00:49:58,762 --> 00:50:00,957 that strikes from above. 419 00:50:03,433 --> 00:50:06,425 Fisherman of the Caribbean cast their nets. 420 00:50:06,570 --> 00:50:11,473 Their hunt for food from waters around the reef is more and more intense. 421 00:50:11,775 --> 00:50:15,836 Their methods are increasingly sophisticated and life is strained 422 00:50:15,979 --> 00:50:17,571 from the sea. 423 00:50:21,351 --> 00:50:25,378 Longlines are set for groupers and sharks, and lures are trawled 424 00:50:25,522 --> 00:50:27,786 through the waters by game fishermen. 425 00:50:33,897 --> 00:50:39,893 In some places the remaining jewels look to a future shadowed by change. 426 00:50:47,711 --> 00:50:51,238 Their homes are not what they used to be. 427 00:50:52,716 --> 00:50:56,914 New reefs grow on structures that are artificial and for the residents 428 00:50:57,054 --> 00:50:58,919 are fraught with danger. 429 00:51:04,995 --> 00:51:07,862 Oil rigs provide shelter on one hand, 430 00:51:07,998 --> 00:51:10,967 the threat of spills and pollution on the other. 431 00:51:12,836 --> 00:51:17,273 And these new reefs may not endure for thousands of years. 432 00:51:17,474 --> 00:51:22,673 They are here today by man's whim and could easily be gone tomorrow. 433 00:51:27,084 --> 00:51:28,984 In these devastating times 434 00:51:29,086 --> 00:51:33,079 a new creature has come to the reef the sport diver. 435 00:51:33,423 --> 00:51:39,726 Because of divers, sea life is increasingly valuable alive and free. 436 00:51:49,372 --> 00:51:52,000 This single shark brings millions of tourist dollars 437 00:51:52,109 --> 00:51:54,236 to the Bahamas every year. 438 00:51:56,646 --> 00:52:00,844 This grouper attracts thousands to resorts in the Cayman islands. 439 00:52:03,320 --> 00:52:07,381 These dolphins play with thousands of divers, bringing wealth 440 00:52:07,524 --> 00:52:10,186 to the struggling nations of the West Indies. 441 00:52:14,731 --> 00:52:19,430 So there is a new form of symbiotic behavior in the undersea world. 442 00:52:19,736 --> 00:52:23,638 Marine creatures bring joy to creatures of the land and we, in turn, 443 00:52:23,773 --> 00:52:28,836 must provide protection against the ravages of overfishing and pollution. 444 00:52:37,220 --> 00:52:41,350 Above all, now there are human witnesses to the damage humans 445 00:52:41,491 --> 00:52:42,981 are doing here. 446 00:52:44,494 --> 00:52:48,658 There is still a wealth of precious jewels strewn about the Caribbean, 447 00:52:49,032 --> 00:52:52,866 and there is still time to save them.