Eyewitness II; #104; Fish

This is a. Presentation of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and bi annual financial support from viewers like you. Oh no. Beneath the surface of the waters of the earth there is another world.

Greater than our own and yet we hardly know what it is like a fish vast strange and spectacular with creatures more extraordinary and far more varied than any on land. The. Last lives of three quarters of the planet with more species than all reptiles and birds and mammals added together. Representing the sky by. I see the symbol of rebirth and regeneration. The sign that completes the circle. Perhaps because of the life cycle of this fish the salmon. The king of fish.

The majority of Cubans are sensors in memory and intelligence is the adventure of the forest life is an epic journey. From its birth high up in a shallow stream. The salmon swims thousands of miles downstream to the mother's mouth. And into. Wide. Across the waters in a habitat. Then finally. To. Turn. The. Place. Of its birth. And where the salmon go. People. Fall. Over the thousand years this fish was the main source of food for native tribes and living along the rivers of the north west coast of America. They built their lives around the salmon. It's a journey and their descendants still call themselves the salmon people. Years ago the earliest fish had no jaws no fins no scales.

But they did possess one revolutionary feature a strong flexible support running the length of the body. The spine a feature so important that without it there would be no birds no reptiles mammals or humans. And upon this spying evolution moved forward fins group for steering. Some fish developed the skeleton of soft cartilage which led to the shark and the ready most formed scale. A swim bladder for buoyancy and a skeleton of hardball for the last 100 million years this design has been the prototype of almost everything including the most famous fish fossil of all the coelacanth thought to have died out at least 80 million years ago. But then in 1938 scientists were stunned to find the coelacanth living off the east coast of Africa. The only people who weren't surprised were local fisherman who for years had used the course of the coelacanth as a roughening tool when

patching the inner tubes of their bicycles. For its first few months the young salmon stays in the stream growing and gaining strength. But then when it's still only four inches or just a few ounces comes the irresistible urge to find the sea and the fish are headed downstream and schools are sure travelling up to five. Every party officials body in every sense is geared to want to eat survive and survive it Highness diversifying into nearly 30000 species many have vast niggling powers. The ocean sunfish can lay 300 million eggs at one time. And we acknowledge this abundance with encouraging words at a time when love breaks down. There's plenty more fish in the sea. And indeed there are from the small fry to the formidable in South

America. There are twelve hundred species of catfish along. Some are 13 feet long weighing twice as much as the biggest land cat. The Atlantic ocean holds more than one trillion herring 500 times all the human beings on the planet. If all the fish in the world were to live on land every continent would be piled high with fish bowls. What makes a fish despite their variety the most share the same basic features. A skeleton supported on the spine to maintain their buoyancy. A swim bladder. A bag filled partly with air so they neither float nor sink for find movement in steering and debris. Fish would suck in water over a tightly folded surface rich with blood vessels ten times as big as the entire area of the fish's skin.

Fish also have a unique organ of the body on either side especially filled with fluid in a few tiny changes in pressure so that the fish instantly senses its surroundings. The external protection scale has tiny plates made of hard ball for strength overlapping for flexibility. And movement. Most fish swim with an S wriggle. It begins with a tiny sideways motion of the head growing as it sweeps along the body pushing the surrounding water sideways and backwards. So the fish has to move forward. With a shape so slick it's been imitated where ever aerodynamics are an essential. And when it comes to color fish cover the spectrum. There is no known

color which is not found on the body of the fish. No other group of animals grows so much in size from hatched young to mature adult as the fish or ranges so widely in specie from a sea horse with a weak dorsal fin that weaves it along at a mere 50 feet in an hour or. Two the sailfish faster than any land animal capable of speeds of over six. Hours. But there is one great boundary that divides all fish into two clear and different groups. The barrier between river and sea between fresh water and salt water. Few fish can cross that barrier but the salmon is one of them. Changing its body chemistry from a freshwater fish from the river to a salt water fish of the sea. Now a body weighing less than a pound. The young scientists raise

the vast ocean. In all fish. The driving force is survival to eat and not be eaten. For every attack there is a defense and for every defense. Some feel for their prey. Some actually fish for an. Answer.

The image of gulping down the hole has led to stories of sailors like Jonah being swallowed by creatures of the deep. A lot of people have no trick to avoid being eaten. Fish have devised unique ways to avoid ending up on the Predators plate. The puffer fish can swallow water and puff itself into a huge bowl on demand turning it from a tasty morsel into an impossible mouthful. But the most successful form of defense and attack is nature's great game of deception. Come a fly with. The sparkling Razorfish hides among the wings.

And many other open water fish are double camouflaged taking on the tones of their surroundings from above and below. Humans have also learned the benefits of disguise for the many Christians this was a way to avoid persecution and death. They used codes and signs to recognize each other and their secret symbol was the fish they chose the fish because in Greek the initial letters of the phrase Jesus Christ Son of God the Savior spell out. Fish. Nona Simon is also camouflaged for open water and as it feeds and grows its trade will enable it to swim far across the ocean. Others seem less gifted yet have their own tricks. The Amazon leaf fish is perfectly disguised playing dead among the leaves floating in the water until its prey comes within range.

The bunny retreats into a hiding place. And when it sees a threat to the garden just isn't there. Some rely on the defenses of others to protect themselves like the cardinal fish which hides among the poisonous spines of sea urchins. In many cultures. Even humans have received protection from fish in Hindu is a mad sea of the fish God save man who was the first man by warning him of the coming flood and advising him to build a boat loaded with the seed of all things. Then the God told manner and the road to safety. The greatest danger to fish comes from their own kind. Fights over territory guarantee this species will be spread out and cheering through and for all. These fights can be dangerous sometimes fatal. But even when strength is ill matched it is the intruder who is most often driven off.

Right. Sometimes the survival battle is against the environment. The ice fish contains no blood but instead a transparent plasma with its own antifreeze to keep it alive in water so cold that any of the fish would die in seconds. And at the other extreme to lobby us arrive where no other creatures can in the searing heat of wild antics over the links. But surely the most alien fish are far beyond human eyes in the process. Yes the ocean's deepest trough goes down seven miles. Almost one and a half times the height of Everest with a pressure that would crush most fish instantly. How can any creature possibly survive down here. These fish have a feather like skeletal and a body completely devoid of air at such depths they spend their entire lives in eternal darkness

to compensate many of these remote fish actually create their own light using things with the luminous mucus eyes or teeth or in the case of the lantern jaw the tongue Some even have a nice flat dangling inside the mouth which they opened to draw in and pray. Others have bloomed this bacteria I could number a flap of skin to be flashed. Location. It is surely the strangeness of these creatures which has caught the imagination of man uncannily calling forth his most primal fear. Small wonder that for centuries sailors return home with fish stories of a different

kind sea monsters formidable enough to swallow wish and frightful enough Drive Savers mad and fascinating enough like the fetching man we should be guided apparitions to be treated with respect. Most of the time. But the truth is stranger than fiction. Enter the flatfish at two weeks old Flounders play simple flatfish look like normal fish. But something is happening to the head. The right eye moves towards the center and down over the front of the skull to the other side at the same time the feast begins to swim on its side. A week later both eyes are on the top of the head and only its mouth shows it once swam upright in the next few days the upper side of its body will take on the

colors of the sea floor and after seven weeks is a perfectly camouflaged flight. Out in the ocean the Simon has also changed two years old and growing fast. Its body is a mass of muscle could now feel its own prostrations on small fish in the diet of shrimp as turning the flesh of the shore into the familiar Simon so prized by chefs and gourmet. Predators. A show like The Beehive the supreme underwater community. Get the individuals to food rich waters and song violates within the shoal. The shore offers a line of defense safety

predator needs to select a single target almost impossible. And a dense short moving in unison can appear as a single much larger creature. Each fish using a slightly biased. Sure the song against the ultimate synchronized swim. So how do fish work in such close harmony. How good are fish senses. Many fish have amazing eyesight spotting the distinctive markings of their own kind. Fish have their own form of hearing the features here pressure waves from water. The same way that our ears sense what is going on in three dimensions around us and it is this which enables the fish to orient itself with some

fish also have senses we don't possess. Some Eagles navigate by use of electricity using the six thousand electric cells on their body to send out small shock waves and feel their surroundings are without power a selection of 500 volts. They kill their prey outright but fish do have one talent in common with us. They can talk often at high frequency and inaudible to us but the fishing world is alive with sound. The Garibaldi fish clicks like I've never known to attract a mate. And when confronted by an unwelcome advances the female secret knows how to say no. While the brooding Sergeant-Major fish squeaks like a mouse the reward offered for. Fish make sounds all the time to mate navigate threatened and cooperate. Indeed fish often form partnerships where the gain is

mutual. The sea anemone is home to families of clownfish who produce a special mucus to protect themselves against the poisonous tentacles. While they feed on the remains of the anemones victims. And the eight foot grouper is host a tiny cleaner rouse even in its mouth. The grouper gets a dental cleaning and the RAS gets a free meal on the reef. Other fish gather at cleaning station to be attended by the runners. It even advertises its service with a kind of calling card dance. But one of the strangest partnerships of all is that of the Gobi and the shrimp the al-Fayed shrimp is a prodigious digger of tunnels but has very poor eyesight and cannot see danger or find its way home when it goes in search of food. The Gobi also likes to live in tunnels. It can dig them but it does have

very keen eyesight so the two of them set up home together. The Gobi stands guard at the tunnel entrance alert for any danger while the shrimp collects food and keeps the tunnel clear. Enterprise and perfect cooperation. That. Is driving the Simon out feel the urge to return home. To the street. He crosses hundreds of miles of ocean using only its one instinct and a powerful sense of smell to find that one particular river. Reaching the river. The sound body has to dive to the fresh water would wait quietly now for this last transformation to be complete. Some fish are already finding mates pairing off. And so. The final. Leg. Of the journey begins.

In other waters countless different mating rituals are taking place exhibitions of color and display. Most fish reproduce by laying eggs orderlies down side the body in the water. For many species these fertilized eggs are simply left to the mercy of the current and hungry predators. Some make nests for their eggs fiercely guarding their young as they grow and develop. And some fish go to extremes to protect their babies. This mouth Bruder isn't eating their young but sheltering them in her mouth as danger threatens us. Occasionally the roles of the parents are reversed for the seahorse it's the male which rears its young fertilizing and storing the eggs in a pouch in the front of his body until the baby Seahorses are old enough to be released.

As with any child it is smell which keeps the young close to the parent. It is also the sense of smell which guides the salmon back to its spawning ground. Not one dog is Simon steadily loses strength as it swims upstream. Many will die. This. Urge to. Remove. Its. Battles to conquer an obstacle to lead anywhere. It has no fear of hurrying itself. Through. The water. In its frenzy risking its own life. The bedroom listening tour is fish out of water stories mud skippers love to play on land using their fins as tiny legs chasing each other across

mudflats and catching insects. Walking catfish can stay out of water for up to 12 hours covering over half a mile on land. While the Amazon marijuana will leap higher than a man to catch its prey. It looked like another. Mr. Nice The silent. Coward as it fights its way upstream evading predators as it goes. When the two trucks.

Together. Back to their breeding grounds to catch. The fish. Far beyond our reach. Presentation of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and bi annual

financial support from viewers like you to order a video cassette of this eyewitness episode called PBS video at 1 800 8 to 8 for PBS. Or write to the address on the screen. Six PBS. The modern photographic techniques used in the eye witness series bring the animal world to life on the pages of eyewitness natural world companion book to the eyewitness series eyewitness natural world is published by Dorling Kindersley. The price is twenty nine ninety five plus five ninety five shipping and handling to order this colorful and informative visual guide. Call 1 800 4 4 0 2 6 5 1. Credit cards are accepted.