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Wild Caribbean - Reefs and Wrecks

Seizoen: 1 - Aflevering: 2 / 2 - Eerst uitgezonden: 23 januari 2007 - Episode ID: 368673

Coral reefs, which thrive in the warm, shallow waters around Caribbean Islands, are the subject of the second programme. Hard corals are the reef-builders, and grow their tough external skeletons by extracting nutrients from algae growing within them. Time-lapse footage shows coral polyps emerging at night to trap drifting plankton. Marine life featured includes Caribbean reef squid, octopus and blue tangs. At Silver Bank, a coral outcrop north of the Dominican Republic, up to 3,000 humpback whales pass through annually. The shallow reefs are an ever-present threat to ships, but each sunken wreck provides a perfect habitat for a new reef to grow. Nurse sharks take advantage of the shelter, and sergeant majors lay their eggs directly on the wreck. Around the mountainous islands, reefs plunge into the deep ocean at drop-offs. A wreck 200m down harbours deep sea life forms including sea lilies and rusticles, formed as bacteria and fungi eat the steel hull itself. Stretching for 180 miles off the coast of Central America, the Caribbean barrier reef is the second largest coral structure on Earth, and home to an abundance of life. By day, large creatures such as loggerhead turtles and the rare Antillean manatees browse peacefully, but at night, tarpon and other predators emerge to hunt. The final scenes show the annual gathering of snappers, triggered by a full moon. As they rise to the surface and release clouds of milt and eggs, whale sharks move in to take advantage of the sudden feast.