Wildlife Instincts | The Bizarre Underwater World of Noto Peninsula | Free Documentary Nature

and this is Japan's nodo peninsula underneath these Waters live some of the world's weirdest creatures the creature fluttering along mantle that looks like a robe of silk is the blanket octopus here's a bizarre looking deep sea fish this four meter long giant octopus is another creature of tales with a of being and finally reigning Supreme in the deep sea is a giant squid why do all these creatures congregate in the waters of nodo peninsula [Music] join us as we discover the monsters lurking here foreign [Music] [Music] extending for some 100 kilometers the Noto Peninsula is Japan's largest peninsula intersecting the Japan sea foreign of the peninsula lies a deep sea zone with depths of more than one thousand meters [Music] something slightly curious is visible offshore it's a fixed net this is a hundreds of years old fishing method that is employed along what is called the fish Trail foreign T has snagged a large number of sizable fish known as Japanese amberjacks Japanese amberjacks caught during winter are particularly high in fat content thanks to the tsushima current the Waters of Noto Peninsula are one of Japan's richest fishing grounds [Music] a bizarre creature is spotted inside the fixed net this is a blanket octopus from ages past this species has been referred to as a giant octopus our team decides to go and look for them lying in nanau Bay on the east side of Noto Peninsula is the island called notojima it's about 70 kilometers in circumference lightly covered with snow the tadayama mountain range on the opposite Shore is nearing the end of autumn [Music] although the Japan sea is often associated with Rough Waters here today the water is calm and the sun's sparkling Rays illuminate the shallows these are white-spotted pygmy file fish they're about eight centimeters long foreign Gobi but in the Noto region they are called chagara because they look something like floating tea leaves small fish in the area have found a great hiding place in this beautiful field of eelgrass now what's this well it's an octopus and it's about 50 centimeters long [Music] it's a common octopus often seen in warm Waters [Music] between its arms there are membranes which it spreads out to trap its prey on the ocean floor [Music] perhaps this time it's hoping to snare such food as shrimps and crabs hiding in the sand [Music] you'd have to be on your toes to escape this Wily predator [Music] 30 minutes into our search the waves start to rise in no time at all the calm sea will be turning into a cauldron of raging water as is typical of the Japan sea Coastline the northwesterly winds have begun to blow this is wajima situated on the peninsula's North Coast it's home to a very peculiar wind created phenomenon it's called meaning wave flowers these flowers mean the coast here is blanketed with a white foamy substance this almost alien-like world is a result of the mucus of the Botanical Plankton and algae in the sea water being whisked up and aerated as the winds strengthen more and more foam is blown towards the shore finally it's wafted up like flower petals to dance madly along the coast [Music] the wave flowers are a common feature of Noto Peninsula during the winter season on stormy days when the winds are high three days later the storm has subsided and the team resumes its search for a blanket octopus they take their boat offshore and expand the perimeter of their search as they hunt a white streak becomes visible on the surface of the water it's what's known as an oceanic Oceanfront that's generated currents meet algae of course are ever present the treasures to be found here are multiple and various [Music] if our team is lucky they might come across a blanket octopus nearby after watching for a while something appears slowly drifting in the ocean near the mass of algae [Music] there it is this is the blanket octopus the team has been looking for it's about 70 centimeters long due to its purplish color it's known in Japan as murasakidako meaning purple octopus [Music] everything about this octopus is bizarre first the fact that it's drifting near the surface of the water [Music] usually an octopus crawls along at the bottom of the ocean it's rare to see one leisurely swimming at such a shallow depth [Music] this one looks just like a squid however much it does though it isn't [Music] observations continue but the octopus does not descend to the ocean floor for some reason this octopus has evolved into one that specializes in drifting and this is the proof of that assertion can you see the two openings it brings these two to the surface what is it up to in fact it's trapping air inside the spaces foreign [Music] this part is inflated in fact its body contains an air bladder that keeps air trapped inside very efficiently the octopus is using this Air Supply to float it's now release some air it's adjusting its buoyancy but you might think it's taking its security a little too much for granted but then suddenly it turns around fish are approaching [Music] these are more than 40 centimeter long carnivorous fish called blackhead Sebree and the octopus has been spotted disguise would now seem to be a sensible defense tactic by extending two of its large arms it's extending its membrane [Music] the tactic seems to be to appear larger startle the enemy and quickly flee while the opponent is confused [Music] this web is bizarre for an octopus but not large enough to be classified as legendary there must be something else that gives it its reputation as being a monster [Music] foreign [Music] common dolphin fish make their appearance measuring one meter in length their sharp toothed carnivorous fish response this time it closes its arms and makes its body thinner [Music] by becoming thinner it can decrease water resistance and increase speed foreign however no matter how fast it goes it can't outswim the common dolphin fish the School gradually closes in and then something seems to emerge from its body on closer inspection we can see that its web is gradually becoming longer and longer it's almost like a robe fluttering in the Wind this in fact is the true nature of the giant web that gave the blanket octopus its reputation as a legendary monster originally the membrane was wrapped around its arms just waiting for a threat like this in total the web is about three meters long and two meters wide foreign this is a photo of a blanket octopus with its web fully extended this web is wrapped around the two arms on each side more web we saw at the beginning was the edge of the membrane [Music] there is yet another secret hidden within this large web oh once again common dolphin fish are approaching the threat is Extreme and requires an appropriate response stroke the octopus deploys its web while a drifting membrane manages to distract the Predators the octopus makes its Escape [Music] however you look at it it's a very long membrane no wonder the legend of the giant octopus was born everything the blanket octopus retracts the membrane that it had previously deployed in fact this membrane also serves another purpose it's a tool for hunting covered with sticky mucus it's inescapable by snaring small fish and Plankton with his mucus covered web dinner is served as a result of this diet a drifting lifestyle is particularly appropriate for the octopus foreign s to the research work carried out on the octopus we now know the membrane's true function it's no wonder the Ancients used to be far more equivocal about the true character [Music] on this day Noto Peninsula officially welcomed winter blue skies only returned one week later [Music] now here is something you don't often see the rather strange fish generally found among seaweed called Saga Saga an aerial view shows a forest of soya some seaweed which is seaweed that grows on reefs [Music] the sargassum seaweed here is about two meters tall [Music] indeed the entire ocean floor is covered with seaweed the stems sport elliptical bulls that are about one centimeter in diameter they use the air inside these balls to control their elevation the bushy World created by the seaweed provides ideal shelter for a great many creatures [Music] ah and there it is this is the fish the team was looking for the smooth lump sucker it's about 30 centimeters long as you can see it's a very chubby type of fish [Music] [Applause] it's also a deep sea fish that can often be found at depths of 1700 meters if you look carefully you can see there's something rather curious on its belly it's a sucker that's almost eight centimeters across we will come to the function of this mysterious object a little later now where is the smooth lump sucker swimming off to what attraction does the sargassum hold for it let's follow the fish and find out sadly that idea does not go to plan the dense seaweed blocks our way now the next day as the snow continues to fall the sea water becomes increasingly cold the water depth here is only about one meter the fish we seek the lump sucker is hiding between rocks that are a few dozen centimeters tall there's another one here [Music] this one turns around face up it then sticks its large sucker to the ceiling using it sucker it skillfully moves around the narrow space it's found for itself there are about 10 other lump suckers in the gaps of surrounding rocks [Music] in fact these smooth lump suckers are all males when winter comes males arrive first to look for an appropriate place for spawning a and wait for females to appear [Music] the narrow gaps between the rocks in the seaweed forests are a safe place to spawn because there the eggs are out of the reach of large carnivorous fish [Music] one month has now passed since the arrival of the males their patients May perhaps be wearing thin at last a female egg-bearing females are on the lookout for predators and only emerge once night Falls [Music] females now start to arrive one after another [Music] as if Enchanted they rushed towards the males they're all drawn into what must be the comfort zone of the forest of cyan seaweed and with open arms in a manner of speaking the males await them due to her distended belly Mel is struggling to fit in [Music] finally she makes it the females spawn inside openings where Predators can't easily locate their eggs that's why they try so hard to get in with such a big belly she looks like she's going to spawn right here will she make it in time the male on the right takes action repeatedly he nudges the female's belly you might think he's helping her get into his Nursery this is all part of courtship Behavior in a final spurt the female Wiggles her body and finally gets in meanwhile the male continues to nudge her encouraging her to spawn then without warning a white Mass gushes out [Music] these are eggs she spawned almost as soon as she slipped into the gap once she's done spawning the female immediately exits before and soon after that the sea water becomes clouded the male has fertilized the eggs incredibly the female has laid over twenty thousand two millimeter eggs in the gap between the rocks [Music] her belly is now no longer distended life is not a long experience for a smooth lump fish though being somewhere between two and three years and females die shortly after spawning [Music] the males meanwhile make no attempt to leave in fact they now have a big task ahead of them for two months until the eggs hatch the males will protect them full time and during that time they will not be able to eat this rather solidary occupation upside down as he is is how these males conduct egg guard Duty it's not a job to fall asleep on though for now a common octopus has caught the scent of the eggs reaches out to snag some nourishment [Music] this mail however is quick to spot the threat and takes action in an attempt to drive away the octopus the male threatens the intruder with the male refusing to budge the octopus has no choice but to give up foreign Ed by threats his progenous growth into adulthood is far for this is a job that knows no shortcuts and time off for good behavior and lapses in vigilance could well mean the loss of a generation this time a starfish approaches and Starfish are known as Fierce Predators they will feed on anything including dead fish its Anatomy is such that its mouth is underneath this is its stomach intriguingly a starfish will eject its stomach and attach it directly to its prey to dissolve it before eating these eggs then are a prime target if nothing's done it will devour all of them the male smooth lumpfish threatens it but the starfish Won't Back Down [Music] finally he must flick it off with his mouth [Music] the next Menace comes from a hermit crab [Music] foreign [Music] with one enemy after another to get rid of the male has no time to rest [Music] by now there's a snowstorm outside and the team goes underwater but the waters here are also turbulent nevertheless if the male lump sucker is one thing it's certainly dependable the toll it's taken on him is visible however he's lost quite a bit of weight in fact he's about half the weight he was when he first began nursing duties [Music] with the support of his suckers he manages to weather the Rough Waters one of his duties to continually Channel fresh sea water to the eggs to stop them rotting finally inside one of the eggs a Survivor moves indeed generally these eggs seem to be doing quite well perhaps this will be a very productive year in addition to monster octopodes and deep sea fish the Japan sea welcomes many more bizarre creatures when winter thunders in one of these is something looking like a shellfish it's a paper Nautilus it's actually a member of the octopus family the shell consists of hardened mucus released from its arms the appearance of the paper Nautilus here is thanks to the Shima current is no winds the elements have much to answer for this is an oarfish despite being two meters long this creature with a thin ribbon-like body is still a youngster [Music] have the same general can reach 11 meters in length rising from the depths they emerge near the coast bordering the Japan sea foreign that's been making headlines due to numerous appearances here in recent years it's a giant squid the king of the deep sea growing up to 18 meters in length it's the world's largest squid [Music] this was taken in 2015. it was found during winter in a so-called fixed net in Toyama Bay going just by the volume of ink it produces it's a phenomenal creature [Music] giant squids normally live in the depths of the sea but happily for us they can often be spotted in Shallow Waters of Toyama Bay [Music] [Music] a close look shows some of this giant Squid's arms have been torn off foreign [Music] the giant squids found in the Japan sea travel North along the tsushima current giant squids are sensitive to cold so when winter comes they try to avoid the coldest sea water by going around Noto Peninsula and Sheltering along the coast unfortunately for most giant squids that arrive on the coast of the Japan sea that technique doesn't always work and they succumb to the cold foreign for the king of the deep sea life in the Japan sea during winter is a perilous matter of survival [Music] [Music] if there is a star of this episode however it must surely be the giant monster octopuses that appear on the coast of nodo peninsula Toyama Bay lies at the base of Noto Peninsula and on the east side is namarikawa foreign the occurrence of giant octopuses is well documented here local divers say they are spotted in the low water temperatures of mid-winter using underwater lights the divers swim their way through the murky Waters little by little a slope appears this leads to depths of more than one thousand meters [Music] first to emerge on this dive is that mimika bobtail squid the roughly five centimeter long creature swims by flapping its ear-like fins on both sides of its body a little shy perhaps it starts to bury itself into the sand it uses two arms to throw sand on its body and is completely buried in no time it remains hidden because the mucus covering its body prevents the sand from slipping off this is a roughly 15 centimeter golden cuttlefish [Music] Pray by swiftly extending its arms into which it traps its victims with its eyes wide open it hunts for prey there's something to eat it sneaks up on from behind it's a Japanese siligo oops missed that one better luck next time the next Target is a little bit bigger [Music] it's a John Dory this fish is in a deep sleep not a good defensive technique the Cuttlefish easily catches it however it lets it go right away its real defense system was not sleep but sharp spines they must have been painful [Music] now this is a spear squid when the sea water gets cold the 30 centimeter long squid becomes active and mating is part of its repertoire the male transfers a capsule filled with sperm to the female [Music] fertilizes the eggs inside her body and then spawns on a rock [Music] for a spear squid these 50 centimeter long tubular sacks are important and that's because each sack contains about 50 eggs in about two months time little baby spear squids will be swarming out from here single giant octopus where could they be however on a port Breakwater an octopus is spotted the large creature must be at least four meters long it's a North Pacific giant octopus in fact this North Pacific giant octopus is namarikawa's celebrated monster octopus thank you hmm and do you think it's got an itch perhaps maybe a scratch will help [Music] no that's a different octopus and the second individual is also large actually it looks like they're checking each other out more commonly North Pacific giant octopuses are seen in the shallow Northern Waters of Canada and Hokkaido so why are they also found in toyama's namarikawa [Music] in fact this octopus not a big fan of warm water is very comfortable living in the depths of Toyama Bay where water temperatures are between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius [Music] however the deep sea doesn't have enough food to support the appetite of such a huge creature so they specifically choose winter when water temperatures drop to come to shallow Waters where there's plenty to eat these octopodes are well aware that these hiding places are likely to hold just the nourishment they seek here it hopes to find its favorite prey such as crabs shrimps and fish suddenly it extends the web between its arms this is how it catches several small items of prey at once with a body this big it's not surprising that it's a big eater that will eat virtually anything that moves [Music] thank you foreign [Music] and here it gets scary because the octopus now wraps its arm around a nearby diver if he moves the octopus might tighten its grip so the diver must stay absolutely still the octopus investigates the diver's head with its suckers the suckers are laced with nerves that allow the octopus to identify not only shapes but also flavors [Music] foreign [Music] the diver stays still fortunately the octopus seems to have understood that the diving suit is not food no doubt to the relief of the diver the octopus is off to hunt some more appealing morsel out of the blue the North Pacific giant octopus starts a curious dance it's wiggling all of its eight arms at the same time in Japan the divers like to call this the octopus dance [Music] so what is this all about in no time the octopus is surrounded by numerous indeterminate white objects actually they're pieces of skin that were covering the surface of the suckers the octopus is shedding foreign the North Pacific giant octopus heavily relies on its suckers so it must renew its skin about once a week [Music] during the wiggling process the octopus rubs its suckers against its body to remove old skin flakes this is what makes it look like it's dancing now something white is popping in and out from its body these are its gills and body proud as it is it's cleaning them too [Music] from shedding to cleaning its gills the monster octopus is surprisingly fastidious foreign [Music] region is hit by a record cold wave with daily snowfalls in America happily for our team the Shima Waters have calmed down he Waters temperature though is a chilly six degrees Celsius these are tetrapods protecting the port and there's something in one of the gaps the male smooth lump sucker behind him are eggs [Music] the lump sucker is attached to the tetrapod and he's protecting his offspring [Music] nearby look for a North Pacific giant octopus is watching it has designs on the very tempting lump suckers progeny the octopus stealthily moves closer [Music] the smooth lump sucker is oblivious to the imminent threat [Music] in its grab for food the octopus extends its arm startled the males somewhat belatedly perhaps rushes out from its incubator unfazed by the lump suckers devotion the Giant Octopus begins to Devour the eggs this time the enemy is just too big resistance is surely hopeless but then the smooth lump sucker returns [Music] he's been protecting his eggs he simply can't give up on them now however the opponent is a giant there's no way he can win still he goes back to his eggs the North Pacific giant octopus attacks with its powerful suckers [Music] it then pulls in the lump sucker with its massive arms the fight is over [Music] the male valiantly tried to protect his eggs even if that meant sacrificing his own life in the process here was a fish displaying parental love so strong that he was willing to risk everything and confront his opponent no matter how overwhelming it was here perhaps was a true hero the morning sun rises over Noto peninsula foreign [Music] this morning the temperature is zero degrees Celsius Vapor that's evaporated from the water's surface is cooled by cold air covering the area with an eerie mist how are other smooth lump suckers in these Waters doing foreign [Music] since our observation of the smooth lump suckers began and there is the mail we first started to watch his eggs are now much darker in color the babies are also clearly visible as we watched the mail began to display some Curious Behavior he's nudging the eggs with his head he's urging the fry inside to hatch the male stimulates the fry by repeatedly butting the eggs taking a different approach he begins to gently stroke the eggs with his pectoral fin and then success the eggs start to hatch full of danger though it is the world outside awaits the newborns [Music] foreign [Music] is only about three millimeters long [Music] as they are born the fry will be will yuccas on their bellies and attach themselves to nearby algae or rocks foreign the juveniles will initially spend some time developing in the forests of sargasm seaweed before they eventually depart for the deep sea [Applause] hatching took more than an hour to complete this is the male's last task busily he flaps his fins [Music] foreign [Music] now that all the eggs have hatched he can finally start to think about himself if only for a very short time he has lost a lot of weight in the process though and who can be surprised he's been fasting for the last two months having brilliantly accomplished his mission of ensuring that the circle of life continues for the Next Generation the male will soon die [Music] not long after the team encounters a very cute monster measuring only about five centimeters in length it's a baby blanket octopus [Music] just like its parents the baby has two openings that help it float spreads its web between its arms precautions against what it perceives to be potential Predators by attempting to make itself look larger during winter the Noto Peninsula becomes host to any number of bizarre creatures for those that cannot adapt to the harsh realities of nature here life comes to an end but for those who persevere or have good fortune on their side the future beckons foreign [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife Documentary, Wildlife, Animal Documentary, Animals, BBC Documentary, National Geographic, Nat Geo, Ocean Life, Noto Peninsula, Bizzare Underwater World, Underwater Documentary, Sea Monsters, Deep Sea Documentary, Octopus, Octopus Documentary, Deep Sea, Giant Squid, Oarfish, Oarfish Documentary, Japan Sea

Id: p6K6nMxTa6w

Length: 51min 57sec (3117 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 13 2022