Tag archives for Ocean
‘Million-Dollar’ Super Fish
Posted by Hanna Toler on June 19, 2013 
Tonight on Destination WILD’s Superfish, follow Rick Rosenthal, marine biologist and filmmaker, into the secret world of our oceans to catch a glimpse of the giant Bluefin tuna. The Atlantic Bluefin tuna, one of the largest predatory fish in the world’s great oceans, can be up to 10 feet long, weighing in at over 1,000…
Caught in the Act is all about being at the right place at the right time. When catching the natural world on film, sometimes it takes years to capture the rare and spectacular moments that remind us how amazing nature truly is. In it’s fifth season, Caught in the Act is an absolute adrenaline rush,…
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The Captains and mates are reaching their breaking points on this week’s episode of Wicked Tuna. With six weeks left before the Bluefin tuna fishing season comes to an end, the pressure is on to catch a giant especially for Dave Marciano with Hard Merchandise. Last week we saw his boat break down and get…
It’s week five for the fishermen in Gloucester, Massachusetts and a new challenge has presented itself: the great white shark! On this season of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, a single Bluefin can be worth up to $20,000…making it hard for any of the captains to stay out of the water. Let’s check to see how…
Watch out world, the U.S. Navy has developed a versatile new class of warships: the LCS (Littoral Combat Ship). These fast and agile combat ships are designed to take deadly threats emerging on the world stage and blow them out of the water. Their target? The Killer Tomato. No Joke. These giant red target balloons…
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Dr. Robert Ballard is one of the world’s most renowned ocean explorers, with such amazing finds as Titanic, the Battleship Bismarck and JFK’s PT1-09 to his name. But this time he’s going on a journey like no other. He’s setting out on an underwater odyssey down the world’s tallest mountain! No, it’s not Everest at…
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Deep-sea exploration, of course, is an inherently dangerous pursuit. Venturing nearly seven miles down into the Challenger Deep, for example, means surviving perhaps the most extreme, forbidding environment on the planet. The pressure is 1,000 times that experienced at sea level, the rough equivalent of having 50 jumbo jets piled atop the submersible, and the temperature…
Last weekend, James Cameron successfully returned from the deepest point on Earth. Next weekend, he’ll take NGC viewers on a journey through Titanic. Busy guy. Director and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence James Cameron is the first person to ever complete a solo-vehicle dive to explore the Mariana Trench’s Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth. The…
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Researchers often use technology to track the movements of animals. And although whale sharks are the planet’s largest living fish, relatively little is known about these ocean travelers. Tagging animals can help communicate key information about these unpredictable and mysterious marine giants – like distinct migration patterns, feeding behaviors and climate change responses. Not all tracking…
© Tesche Films/ Parthenon Entertainment) It’s one of the ocean’s most enigmatic creatures, with eight legs, high intelligence and the ability to discreetly melt into its surroundings. The giant octopus is said to reach 33 feet across, can weigh 400 pounds, and is known as the “devilfish” for the horns above its eyes. With the…
Because whale sharks sometimes filter feed along the ocean’s surface, they are vulnerable to boat strikes. But determining how to protect a highly migratory species from vessel-related injuries is a challenging problem. Rafael de la Parra, Project Domino research coordinator and biologist, told me that whale sharks “swim slowly, filtering the plankton-rich seawater… so they are…
© Brian Skerry Underwater photographers must endure some of the toughest conditions to tell a visual story. From coral reef wonderlands to deep sea diving, there’s plentiful obstacles along the way, such as low light levels and shimmering fish scales. Join National Geographic photographers as they disappear beneath the waves and investigate an intentionally sunk…
Just off the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula is the largest whale shark aggregation site in the world. And marine biologists are conducting regular aerial surveys of this feeding zone to document key information about these wild ocean travelers…. According to Dr. Alistair Dove, Senior Scientist at the Georgia Aquarium, aerial surveys compliment other…
Photo Credit: Tina Lindeken Sea turtles can swim hundreds – and sometimes thousands – of miles to reach different areas of marine habitat. Tracking this highly migratory species by satellite is shedding light on sea turtles’ unique feeding locations and pathways of movement. Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) – in collaboration with the Wider Caribbean…
Photo credit: Michael Aw The ocean’s abyss is a virtually undiscovered black, cold landscape with more underwater creatures than the Amazon River or Great Barrier Reef. We know very little about what lives and thrives in these deep sea waters, partly because the abyss is one of the hardest places on the planet to explore.…
With more underwater creatures than anywhere else on the planet and ten times more biodiversity than Caribbean reefs, scientists travel 10,000 ft. down in the Celebes Sea to explore the bizarre and the undiscovered. Into the Abyss airs Tuesday November 30 at 10P et/pt on Nat Geo Wild. Video Preview: Scientists send an ROV to the…
by Ancient Sea Monsters Production Team Standing at the bottom of Fossil Hill in Nevada is a humbling experience. It sits among a group of hills in the Humboldt mountain range. And although these peaks won’t be giving Mount Everest a run for its money anytime soon, many of these “hills” still tower at around…
Normally a solitary species, whale sharks aggregate in the Gulf of Mexico each summer to filter feed on an abundance of fish eggs. Researchers are currently studying these eggs in an effort to promote whale shark conservation… Several times each year, the Georgia Aquarium whale shark research team does ‘plankton tows’ in Quintana Roo, and…
Perhaps overlooked by many people as a boring crustacean, the crayfish is actually a fascinating species with tons of quirky behaviors. Worms live on their pinchers, they urinate to solicit mating, they’re known to be aggressive and they’ll even eat a smaller crayfish to satiate their appetite. While many different types of crayfish species have…
What genes control a whale shark’s size? What species are their closest relatives? Cutting edge DNA sequencing can potentially unlock a whale shark’s biological secrets… The Georgia Aquarium is currently conducting core DNA sequencing studies in collaboration with Emory University to learn more about the world’s largest fish, the whale shark. Once decoded, a DNA…
Photo Credit: Robert Van Dam Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire is an organization that has been working to protect endangered sea turtles since 1981. As this species is highly migratory, the organization often attaches satellite transmitters to the turtles’ backs to help “deepen our understanding of the potential threats facing these animals,” says Mabel Nava, an…
© Tesche Dokumentarfilm The Moray eel, with his writhing mass, dagger-like teeth, lightning-quick movements and fearsome reputation, could be crowned King of the Coral Reef. There are over 200 species of Moray eel, each with a unique camouflage that perfectly suits their warm, coastal realm. Their smooth skin is coated in a thick mucus that…
Wild manta rays are not accustomed to slow, surface swimming for a set period of time, following a meal routine or being handled by humans. So how do you train a captive giant manta to feed from a ladle and swim into a stretcher for veterinary care? Ladle TrainingWhen a giant manta ray comes under…
Spanning the Northern California coastline, the 135-mile Red Triangle area has had more documented white shark attacks than any similar location on the planet. But why has this beautiful place become a shark battleground? White sharks are massive, terrifying predators, weighing as much as two tons and growing up to 21 feet in length. But…
Source: Tesche Films/ Parthenon Entertainment There are over 300 types of octopuses, but the Giant Pacific variety is the stuff of legends. This colossal sea invertebrate has been cast as a sea demon in literary novels, religious texts and even modern day tall tales – but is there truth behind the myth? Regarded by many…
