- Wait a second there's
something big down there. Seriously, he's out,
right there, he's movin'. He's goin' through here. Got him, yes, woo hoo! (dramatic music) Massive rock formations
towered 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 teeming
with aquatic life. Today we're 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 too high 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 oftentimes 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. (light music) Oh got it, yes! Wow what a scoop! I almost got the blenny
at the same time. All right that's a pretty
decent sized little crab right there! Look at you! Look at those distinct
striped markings on the legs. 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. Uh oh! [Mario] He's gone. - Okay, and I lost him! Hold on. Oh, I got a blenny! Two of 'em. Okay game on! All right well I. - [Mario] Lost a
crab, got a blenny. - Oh 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 cleaning up your mess! Alright well, this is really
panin' 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 kind of 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. - [Mario] Are you sure? - I'm a hundred
percent positive. I'm gonna let the crab go. All right I'm going
for the octopus guys. We're abandoning the crab. - [Mario] I see it. - Nobody move. I can see its tentacle,
Mario if you crouch down here you might be able to get a shot. Actually I wonder if
I can use my GoPro. (dramatic music) He's wedged right into
that little cavity. - [Mario] I see it. - Yeah. 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
decide to give me a nic. (dramatic music) - [Mario] Here he is, he's
out, he's right there. - I see him, I see him. Oh! Do you see him? - [Mario] He's right there,
right there, he's moving. He's going through. You got him. - Got him, yes! Whoo, how bout that! Well the tactic worked, gently
coax 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 we 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 us its valves. Right, I'm trying to
keep it as calm as I can. I don't want it to ink. Look how its turning
dark in coloration but if I do this,
check this out. Set it down and sort
of try to corral it into 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? 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 want to 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! All right I'm gonna
place it back down into this pocket of water. There we go keep him
positioned and I'm getting totally slimed right now. All right now if I just
keep my hand positioned, watch the way that it
will actually slink. I guess he is 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. 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 oftentimes try to find itself back out
into the ocean currents. Look at that. Well how cool was this, exploring the tide
pools of South Africa and we managed to come across
one slippery slimy octopus. Whoa! I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild. We'll see ya on
the next adventure. All right buddy time to get you back into your pocket. Alright buddy back
into your tide pool. As I release the octopus
back into its watery realm we witnessed an
incredible sight, the most classic octopi
defense maneuver, ink inject. Wow, just got inked. 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 goldmine 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. Oh my gosh, a shark! - [Mario] Oh my gosh, a shark. - Okay Mario. If you thought finding
and catching a slimy
octopus was cool make sure to watch
the epic conclusion to our South African
tide pool adventure, where I caught a shark
with my bare hands. And don't forget subscribe, so you can join me and the crew on our next low tide adventure. (howling)
