- Wait a second, there's
something big down there. - [Mario] Dude, he's here,
here he is, here he is he's out, he's out,
he's right there - [Mark] Right there, it's
moving, it's moving, right there he's going for here,
he's going for here. You got him
- Got him. Yes.
(screaming) - [Mark] Oh my gosh, a shark. (suspenseful music) (waves crashing) (water flowing) - Massive rock formations tower like prehistoric
giants as intense waves crashed upon the
jagged outcrops. At high tide, the southern
coastline of Africa is an unforgiving landscape
that has been carved over millions of years. Yet when the tide rolls back, with it recedes the violence
of the turbulent water, leaving behind an
intricate catacomb of inter-tidal pools that are
teaming with aquatic life. Today we are exploring a stretch of pristine shoreline
known as Kenton on Sea. The magical place where
the South Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean
and to say the least it's breathtakingly beautiful. The sand was flawless. The waves of water were warm and with any luck
we would happen upon and get up close with a variety of bizarre tide pool creatures. Now the tide is going
out at this point. Looks like it's still coming in but it's actually the best
time to search for animals. When all the rocks
are still saturated, that means that the animals
are still comfortable which gives us the best chance
of actually catching 'em. The water trapped within
the individual pools was crystal clear. So as I scouted from
pocket to pocket, I carefully scanned
the overhanging ledges and shadowy nooks. If there was ever a place
for a sea beast to hide, I was determined
to be the seeker. We've got a decent
sized crab down here in this little rock pool. There's actually a little
blenny next to it as well which is a small little fish that'll often times
sit on the edges of these little cliffs. It's tempting to not go for
them both at the same time. We'll see what happens. I'm really after
the crab though. I'm gonna use this net because
it's a deep pocket of water. (dramatic music) - Oh, oh, oh, ah, got it yes. - Yeah.
- Wow, what a scoop. I almost got the blenny
at the same time. Alright that's a
pretty decent sized little crab right there. Look at you. Look at those distinct
striped markings on the legs. Now I'm gonna actually
have to look this one up in a field guide. I'm not sure exactly
what species it is. Let me keep it in the net
like that just for a second. Ut oh
- oh. - Ah. - [Mark] He's gone. Okay, and I lost him, hold on. Oh I got a blenny, two of 'em. Okay, game on. Alright well... - Lost the crab got a Blenny. - Well there's the crab. Got him, now I've got the
crab and some blennies, wow. Hold on, that's how he
got away the first time. Look at that, how's about that for cleanin' up your mess? Alright well, this is really
pannin' out well for us. Look at these guys,
come here buddy. I got two of 'em in one scoop. Alright, let me keep the
crab underneath the net. He'll be fine, they can
breathe out of water. Look at that. Those are blennies. Those are super cool,
they almost look like mudskippers or like
an eel type fish. Notice the elongated
shape of the body. Kinda looks like a prickleback. And they do have those
long dorsal ridge fins that run down the
length of their backs. They actually can breathe
for a short amount of time out of the water. So we don't have
to worry about them just resting up on my hand. And they can actually
skip from pocket of water to pocket of water. What they'll often
times do is exactly... Oh my gosh, there's an octopus. Nobody move, that's
a huge octopus. okay
- Are you sure? - I'm 100% positive. I'm gonna let the crab go. Alright, I'm going
for the octopus guys. We're abandoning the crab. - I see 'em.
- Nobody move. (suspenseful music) I can see it's tentacle. Mario if you crouch down here you might be able to get a shot. Actually I wonder
I can use my GoPro. (beeping) He's wedged right into
that little cavity. - [Mario] Can you see it? - [Coyote] Yeah. (suspenseful music) Okay, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna actually place
my net up in this area. Try to reach my arm around
and scare him up into the net. Now the good thing is that
none of the octopus species here in South Africa
are lethal to humans. Keep in mind if we
were in Australia and that was a
blue-ring octopus, I would not be
performing this maneuver. Now all octopus are
capable of biting. All are venomous but
hopefully this one doesn't besides give me a net. (suspenseful music) - [Mario] Here he is,
he's out, he's out, he's right there,
he's right there. - I see him, I see
him, I see him. Oh. - [Mario] Dude, you see him? - Where? - [Mario] Right there,
right there, right there right there, he's
movin', he's movin', right there, he's
runnin' from you, he's runnin' from you. - [Mark] There here
is, you got him. - Yeah, yes (screaming) (screaming) Woo, how about that. Well the tactic worked. Certainly coaxed him
out of one pocket and into the next and
there you have it, we have got
ourselves an octopus. Wow, I'm gonna actually
let him out of the net and onto my arm. Hopefully I do not take a bite. There you go buddy. Now they do have a little
beak on their underside that of course he could
give me a bite with. But the venom of this
species is non-lethal. This is the common octopus. They can get bigger than this. But to be honest with you guys this is the largest
octopus I have ever caught. And it is on the move. Wow, look at it just
showing it its valves. Right, I'm trying to
keep it as calm as I can. I don't want it to ink. And look how it's turning
dark in coloration. But if I do this, check
this out, set it down, and sort of try and
corral it to this pool. What it wants to feel
is like it's protected. Look at that color change. Within a matter of seconds, it completely morphs
the shape of its body and its coloration. Got an okay shot there? - [Mark] Yeah. - This is actually great. You can see it pumping
water through the valves on the side of its head. If I keep it like this, it
will feel more comfortable. They want to feel concealed. Wow, look at that. And they want to feel
like they are hidden. And just like if I
were to handle a snake, I wanna go one hand to the next. Octopus have eight tentacles. And one of the coolest
things about these creatures is that if they lose a tentacle, they can rejuvenate it. Wow, that is so cool
like a big slimy bugger. Alright, I'm gonna
place it back down into this pocket of water. Here we go, keep him positioned and I'm getting totally
slimed right now. Alright, now if I just
keep my hand positioned watch the way that it
will actually slink, I guess he's gonna
go over my arm. I thought he was
gonna go under my arm. And as the tide goes out, if these animals are
stuck in a shallow pool, they can do this. Slink from pocket of
water to pocket of water. That is so cool. Now one of the key defense
tactics of all octopus, octopuses for plural, is that they can
actually eject ink. And that allows them
the ability to disappear into a rock crevice or
back into the ocean waters. Now if the octopus needs to, it can actually stay
out of the water for a significant
amount of time. And the only reason you'd ever
find an octopus out of water is if it's moving from
tide pool to tide pool. As that tide
recedes, the octopus if it's not in a
deep enough pocket will often times
try to find itself back out into the
ocean currents. Alright buddy, time to get
you back into your pocket. As I release the octopus
back into its watery realm, we witnessed an
incredible sight. The most classic octopi
defense maneuver, ink and jet. - [Mario] Whoa. - [Mark] Just got inked. - [Coyote] And as it disappeared back into the cavernous rocks, I came to the realization
that never before had a single pool of ocean water provided us with
so many species. This isolated miniature
biome was an absolute gold mind of bizarre
aquatic creatures. And I felt incredibly fortunate to have successfully
gotten so many of them up close for the cameras. Yet, little did we know the adventure wasn't quite over. As we meandered our way back
to the production vehicles, we stumbled upon
the one creature I had always dreamed of
finding in a tide pool. - [Mark] Oh my gosh, a shark. - Oh my gosh, a shark. - [Mark] Get Mario. (laughing) I can't believe that. I'm like this is so cool. I look over, I'm like a shark. - The camera team
is just returning. I think the goal
here is gonna be to catch the shark,
look at it very quickly you definitely don't
wanna stress it out or try to handle
it for too long. But this is so cool, a
shark in a tide pool. Alright guys, so
this is super crazy. We just got finished
filming with an octopus and there is a shark in
this pocket of water. That is a spotted gully shark. Now they are bottom feeders and unlike Great White
sharks or Tiger sharks, they only have small
little blunted teeth. So, it should be okay for me
to gently pick up this shark. Are you guys ready? - [Mark] Yep. - I have no idea how
fast its gonna move. I'm gonna actually
not use my net and try to grab it by
the back of the tail. They have very
sandpaper-like skin. So I should be able to
grip on to it no problem. - [Mark] Heads up. - Okay, I got a
hold of it there. Bringin' it up. Hey buddy, look at that. That is the first shark
we have ever caught or featured on the Brave
Wilderness Channel. What a beautiful fish. And the way that I can tell
this is a Spotted Gully shark, see all those black spots? Pretty obvious right? And they usually have a
very light colored belly. They also have very distinct
triangular pectoral fins, very distinct
triangular dorsal fin, and then a second fin on
the rear part of its tail that's almost as tall as
the actual dorsal fin. Alright, I'm gonna
dunk it back down. It's being very calm. That is so cool. The Spotted Gully shark is
a species of Hound shark that can often be found in
shallow in-shore waters. They favor sandy tide
pools such as the ones we have been exploring and occasionally find
themselves marooned when the tide drops. When you run your
fingers in one direction across the skin it's smooth, but if you go in
reverse direction, it feels just like sandpaper. Go ahead Mark, pet the shark. Go one way. - Wow
- Right? - [Mark] Very rough. - Like a fine grit
sandpaper right there. Now this shark has one, two,
three, four, five gill slits. Now when we're talking about
the teeth of this creature, it's almost like
a cheese grater. What they feed on
are small crustaceans and other animals on
the basin of the ocean. And actually this is one
of those rare occasions where I could probably
be bitten by a shark and be just fine. They often times will
hunt in tide pools just sifting along the bottom for small crabs
and other mollusks. Let me dip it again. Woo, that is so cool being
able to handle a shark. Okay buddy, there
you go, there you go. At nearly three feet in length, this shark is
considered a juvenile. Yet they can reach
lengths of nearly six feet and are primarily
active at night feeding on
crustaceans, small fish and cephalopods
such as octopuses. Bring the shark back up here. - [Mark] Man, a tide pool shark. - So cool right? Now you may be
saying to yourselves, Coyote, is this shark
permanently marooned in this tide pool? No, actually the tide is on
its way back in right now and once the water
gets deep enough, it will be able to
move to the next pocket or out in the ocean
if it chooses to. But what a cool
opportunity for us to get a shark up
close for the cameras. Talk about topping off
a day of tide pooling here in South Africa. I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild. We'll see you on
the next adventure. Alright buddy, let's put
him back in the environment and get some cool shots
of it swimmin' around. Wow, that's awesome. As I released the shark into
a deeper pocket of water, I could hardly believe that
this was the ultimate conclusion to our epic day of tide pooling. And as its silhouette
disappeared into the current, I watched with a
child-like wonder. And the sense of
gratitude for the path that lead the team and
I to this moment in time which marked the day we
finally found and caught a tide pool shark. Nice, down into the
depths of that pool. Wow, the first shark
on Brave Wilderness. That was excellent. - Woo, tide's comin'
in let's go guys. - [Mark] Yeah, Mario,
what you think of that? Yeah
- Yeah. - If you enjoyed this encounter make sure to go back and watch as we get the cameras up close with some of the planets
most fascinating animals. And don't forget, subscribe
and click the notification bell so you can join me and the crew
on our next wild adventure.
