What to Watch Tonight: Spy in the Ocean
Spy in the Ocean concludes tonight at 7pm on BBC One.
The final episode in this four part series explores the challenges that ocean life must overcome to survive.
Spy whale is joined by spy dolphin as they encounter a humpback whale calf in danger of drowning as competing males pursue its mother. How the mother saves the calf is truly remarkable. On the island of South Georgia, a version of our first spy camera makes a triumphant return. This new bouldercam dodges eight tonnes of colliding blubber as male elephant seals fight off rivals. In the chaos, an elephant seal pup is separated and must find its mother to survive.
Bouldercam is with him all the way. Spy crab meets the infamous peacock mantis shrimp and is soon on the receiving end of the strongest punch in nature, a knockout blow faster than a speeding bullet. Spy seal keeps up with a lonesome sealion as it chases tuna, one of the fastest fish in the ocean. Not only must it find a way of catching this enormous fish, but it must do so whilst fighting off hungry sharks. Off California, alien-like sarcastic fringehead fish use their outsized mouths to ward of rivals.
Spy fringehead is soon caught in the middle and captures the extraordinary threat with a camera in its mouth. Spy herring eavesdrops on the strange sounds produced by flatulent herring as they navigate to their spawning grounds. Spy herring slips into the shoal as they try to dodge the sea lions and scoter ducks who have been waiting for their arrival. Our spies are not immune to trouble.
While filming the spectacular spawning of grunion fish, spy pelican takes a catastrophic plunge into surf, leaving spy crab to takeover filming duties. When spy iguana tries to film iguanas battling the stormy seas it gets washed away, but when the same happens to spy octopus, all is not lost. It’s rescued from the powerful storm surges by its old friend, the coconut octopus!
On their many adventures, our spy creatures travelled the globe to reveal the extraordinary intelligence, surprising emotions and complex social lives possessed by ocean life. On the way, they shed light on the mysteries of the deep.