Original subtitles

[narrator] This may look like paradise,

but beneath the water's surface...

[menacing music playing]

...lurks a monster.

[menacing music intensifies]

Everyone around here calls it the Devil Shark,

Djabwey.

First time it showed up was almost 25 years ago,

and she kept coming back for more.

[menacing music playing]

[witness] They're fighting, they're fighting!

Oh, it just stole that dolphin.

This shark was a big monster.

This is her territory.

Some say she's possessed...

[team member] Whoa!

...jumping into fishermen's boats.

[Dr. Austin] Whoa! [bleep] [bleep]

But she never attacked humans...

...until now.

[newscaster #1] Some scary news down in the Caribbean.

There's been a fatal shark attack near St. Martin.

[newscaster #2] Another horrific shark attack

near the island of St. Kitts.

Two people in two months --

one dead...

same shark.

[menacing music playing]

[dissonant underwater hum]

Was it the legendary Devil Shark...

or is it a new monster on the loose?

[Dr. Austin] Heads up, heads up, all of you, [bleep] this.

-[all divers] Oh! -[Tadzio] Yeah!

[Kinga] That is a beast!

[Dr. Austin] That might be the biggest tiger shark

that I've ever seen.

That could be Djabwey.

[Tadzio] Hey guys, take a look at this map of the region.

I'd like to show you where the first attack happened

off of St. Martin, right here, and then the second attack,

a couple of weeks later,

happened in between St. Kitts and Nevis

and they both came back as positive for the same animal.

After each attack, scientists collected samples

of the shark's DNA from the victim's wounds.

What they discovered was remarkable.

[Kinga] When they did the forensic analysis,

they were able to identify the species of the shark.

It was a tiger shark.

And most fascinatingly, it was the same individual.

Eyewitnesses from the recent attacks described the shark

as being between 12 to 16 feet long,

with scars all over it, and very aggressive.

I used my thumb to gouge its eye.

That's when the shark opened its mouth and let my leg go.

For the locals, the killer shark sounds

remarkably similar to Djabwey, the Devil Shark.

In this region, the Djabwey is the tiger shark of legend.

It's also known as the Devil Shark.

You look in some of the old books in the museums,

you hear about this individual.

Growing up in this region, we always had legends

of this really particularly big, female tiger shark.

It had scars on it that has been chasing down boats,

ripping up traps.

[Dr. Austin] It makes you wonder,

where are you gonna be if you're a big tiger shark,

particularly one that's roaming around

and implicated in all these events?

But for me, it's right here, Saba Bank.

Saba Bank is my fishing ground.

I know a spot called Devil's Spine,

which is located right here.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had the craziest encounter

with a shark there.

I was out fishing.

Me and my crew came up on the first trap.

As we were pulling up, the three of us were turning,

and we all saw it, and the shark was in the air.

[fishing crew] Whoa!

[Nikki] It hit right on the rub rail.

That's what stopped it from coming on board.

It was so much strange shark behavior that day.

-[Kinga] Whoa! -Real strange.

I wanna get to the truth behind the legend.

I wanna do some science.

I wanna get on the water,

figure out what's really happening here.

To catch the killer and determine

the cause of the attacks, Dr. Austin Gallagher

and shark conservationist Kinga Phillips

are teaming up with local fisherman Nikki Johnson

and local scientist Tadzio Bervoetz.

The most dangerous thing about the tiger shark

is that it often sees you before you see it.

Their first step, find and DNA sample

the biggest tiger sharks in the area,

and see if they can match it with the killer.

So if you look on a map,

and you look at where the first attack happened,

and if you look at where the second attack happened,

this area of the Devil's Spine sits right in the middle

of those two locations.

The reason we call it the Devil's Spine

is because it goes from about 1,500 feet

straight up to about 40, 45 feet

along the spine of the ridge of the Saba Bank.

So we really think that this bank

acts as a congregation area for these massive tiger sharks.

With large serrated teeth, tiger sharks can devour fish

and slice through turtle shells with ease.

But attacks on humans are still rare,

making these recent encounters stand out.

[menacing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] So we've arrived to a place called the Devil's Spine.

-Yep, bombs away. -[Tadzio] Bombs away.

[Dr. Austin] We're gonna get some grubs in the water.

We've got the drone in the sky. It's looking good going down.

Hopefully, we can find the shark that was actually

responsible for those attacks.

[frantic string plays]

Alright, guys, and right now, we're getting a look

into the live view of the burrow right over there.

Tad, are there a lot of divers that come out here to the bank?

Not really used to the divers at this point.

[Nikki] Shark, big tiger shark.

-[Tadzio] Whoa! -[Nikki] Tiger shark!

-[team member #1] Right here. -[Tadzio] Really?

[Dr. Austin] Got one right there. [bleep] Where is he at?

[Tadzio] He's on the buoy. He's on the buoy.

[Kinga] Oh, my God!

Holy [bleep]! Huge tiger.

Within minutes of baiting the Devil's Spine,

the team has their first suspect.

[Tadzio] Let's pull the buoy in a little bit.

Still on it. Still on it.

Still on it, there it is. It's a big shark.

Exciting, you guys. Big tiger.

[Dr. Austin] Holy [bleep]!

[team member #2] Get ready, let's get in the water, guys.

-[team member #3] Good? -[team member #2] Watch out guys.

[epic music playing]

[mysterious underwater melody]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[menacing music playing]

[menacing music builds]

The huge tiger shark disappears into the abyss

beyond the deep drop off.

[dissonant underwater hum]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[peaceful music]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

Saba Bank hides an active underwater volcano.

[Dr. Austin speaking]

Fissures are cracks in the ocean floor

and they're found in abundance around volcanoes.

like an open vent,

fissures can blast out hot, mineral-rich water and gases

from below the Earth's crust.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[Dr. Austin] Good copy. Good copy.

Austin and the team ditch their bulky scuba gear

in favor of a more agile approach, freediving.

[Dr. Austin] Behind the bait! Mark, behind the bait!

Behind the bait!

We have a big fish out there. The shark is thrashing around.

We have two of our divers in the water.

I'm gonna hop in. I'm gonna try to get a biopsy.

[dissonant underwater hum]

[menacing music playing]

The shark is just about 12 feet,

and it has some unique scarring,

so it could be a suspect in the two recent attacks.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

The shark is thrashing violently.

Until it's calm, it will be impossible

to grab a DNA sample.

[Dr. Austin] It's on it again. Here we go. Here we go.

-Right here. Right here. -[team member] Right here.

Michael?

[Tadzio] It's coming back, careful.

[Dr. Austin] Heads up.

[menacing music playing]

Normally, a wild tiger shark will hesitate

with so many divers around.

Not this one.

[intense thrilling strings playing]

[menacing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Holy [bleep]!

[team member #1] Oh my God!

[Dr. Austin] Two sharks, two sharks, pullin' in.

[menacing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Heads up, heads up.

-[team members] Whoa! -[bleep]

[Dr. Austin] I really don't like this, dude.

[Tadzio] Yeah, those animals mean business.

Have to be careful of that.

[Tadzio and Dr. Austin speaking]

[Tadzio] He's all fired up.

[grunting]

Deep in the heart of the Caribbean,

off the volcanic island of Saba,

a team of researchers is trying to get

a DNA sample from an amped-up tiger shark,

to determine if it's the shark responsible

for attacking two people.

[Dr. Austin] Shark on the bait.

-Right here, right here. -[Tadzio] Oh my God.

[screaming]

[Tadzio] Oh, my God!

[team member] Oh, [bleep] the tiger shark got it.

[menacing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Heads up, heads up!

[menacing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Right here, right here.

[team member #2] Argh!

The tiger shark thrashes violently,

making a biopsy attempt impossible.

[team member] There it is, right there.

[team member #2] Got it again, here we go. Here we go.

Right here, right here.

Kinga spots an opening

to collect the team's first biopsy.

[Dr. Austin] Heads up.

[Kinga] We got a sample, we just hit her in the dorsal.

[Dr. Austin] That's awesome.

-[team member] Whoo! -Everybody's alive.

I don't know anything else you want more than that.

[indistinct chatter]

[Tadzio] Crazy.

[Tadzio] That was too good to be true. We got it.

-Everyone good? -No, it got sketchy.

I'm gonna tell you.

I've worked with tiger sharks in the Bahamas,

South Africa, Australia.

I've never seen aggression like that, here in the Saba.

Maybe it's the volcanic activity that's causing them

to build up their metabolism and being just more aggressive.

I actually did see some fissures and some sort of deep cuts.

Could be some good signs of volcanic activity.

-Could be, yeah. -It's something.

We need to remember that Saba is an active volcano.

The last major eruption was in 1648,

but it's still an island that has significant geological activity.

Beneath the surface of the Saba Bank,

volcanic vents pump out heat and nutrients,

drawing in fish, sea turtles, even dolphins.

Research has shown that warm water

and the constant seismic vibrations can create

a sense of heightened aggression in tiger sharks.

[Jabinge] Certain nights when you're out there,

you can see this red glow.

Like, you can almost hear sounds that are,

like, rumbling from underwater.

And the sharks just act differently.

They seem really aggressive.

This location is just 30 miles from one of the recent attacks.

A 38-year-old, French woman was swimming alone

about 100 meters offshore when she was fatally attacked.

The beach had never seen a shark attack before that day.

Could there be a connection between the volcanic activity

in the area and the attacks?

If it's the volcanic activity that is making these sharks

so aggressive, we might be able to use that to our advantage

to attract big sharks.

I'm going to build a device that will simulate

a volcanic eruption. And hopefully,

we're gonna be able to bring out some of these big tiger sharks.

We're calling it the Sphere.

Activity over there for me. Great.

The Sphere is a cutting edge tool designed to recreate

volcanic conditions underwater, complete with acoustics,

thermal vents, and electromagnetic fields.

-That's it. -Voila.

Whoa!

Nothing like this has ever been tried before.

-Alright, Kinga, fire it up. -Alright.

On.

[tense music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Heat sensor's working.

There's gotta be some truth to some of the legends

that we're hearing. There's always an origin story.

But we need to be able to test that, and I think

that the Sphere, this simulation of volcanic activity,

is gonna be the key and see if that can be

used as a lure to bring out some of these big tiger sharks.

It might even be the key to attracting

the big tiger shark responsible for the attacks,

and maybe even the legendary Djabwey.

[Kinga] Hop on board.

-OK, there she is. -[Tadzio] Looks like a UFO.

[Dr. Austin] What we're gonna do is set it on the bottom,

and then using my comms,

I'm gonna trigger Nikki to turn it on, activate it

to see if it's gonna bring in those sharks.

[Tadzio] Good launch.

[Dr. Austin] That actually wasn't too bad.

[Nikki] Yeah, it's not too bad at all.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

Copy that Austin.

[strong rumbling]

In the Saba Banks, a team of scientists

are using a device called the Sphere to attract

a tiger shark responsible for two attacks on humans...

...and right now Tadzio has come face-to-face

with a prime suspect.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

These DNA samples will be cross referenced with the data

from the two attacks.

But the team has already proven one point definitively --

a volcano, whether artificial or real, will create

an aggressive response from these local tiger sharks.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

We know the Sphere works, and it works at bringing

big sharks in close enough to get that sample. -Sure does.

[menacing music playing]

In the weeks leading up to the attacks,

a wave of earthquakes, seven in just six days,

shook the region.

Some less than 100 miles from Saba Bank.

As the Earth's plates moved, volcanic activity surged

across the Eastern Caribbean.

Then, the attacks began.

A woman was killed off St. Martin,

another, torn apart near St. Kitts,

both by the same shark.

Now based on the team's findings,

it seems likely the killer shark

was triggered by something underground.

[Dr. Austin] Guys, we really need a lot more data.

We got a lot of ground to cover.

You know, look at this map.

Nikki, where do you think is a good spot

to go deploy the Sphere?

-Man O'War Shoals. -[Kinga] OK.

[Nikki] Which is located right over here.

[Dr. Austin] OK.

[Nikki] And there's a lot of volcanic activity there.

Plan for today is to split up into two teams.

We're gonna send Kinga and Nikki

over to Man O'War Shoals.

Tadzio and I are gonna be doing some fishing on the Saba Bank.

-[Kinga] Alright. -Let's go!

Off to Man O'War Shoal.

Man O'War Shoals is home to two volcanic peaks

rising sharply from the depths with frequent seismic activity.

Many fishermen report that tigers in this area

will launch breaching attacks

against the side of their boats.

[Tadzio] Got one side, I grabbed open.

-[Dr. Austin] Go ahead. -[Kinga]...three, OK.

♪♪

[Kinga] Great, perfect, perfect.

There she goes. She's sinking.

♪♪

As Kinga and Nikki wait for the Sphere

to lure in sharks, six miles away,

along the much deeper ridge of the Devil's Spine,

Austin and Tadzio have just set their lines to bring the sharks

to the surface and take DNA samples.

[Dr. Austin] Yeah, this is looking good, good distance.

Yeah, we got the bait on. Come on, mamas.

[team members speaking]

-[Dr. Austin] I think you're... -[Tadzio] The first one?

[Dr. Austin] Yeah, looks like it.

[Tadzio] I know, we can see the shark on the surface.

[team member #1] Shark.

[team member #2] Alright, look lively. look lively.

[Dr. Austin] That's a tiger, I think.

That's a tiger. Yeah, it's a tiger.

The first catch of the day is exactly what they're after,

a large tiger that fits the profile of the killer.

[Dr. Austin] Wow, it's a big one.

[Tadzio] Yeah, it's a good-sized animal.

[Dr. Austin We got this, we got the shark. We got this shark.

[Tadzio] That's good. Alright, flip the shark over.

Let's do measurements. Ready?

[Dr. Austin] Shark! Hands up!

[Tadzio] It's off the hook. It's off the hook.

Loose the tail.

The tiger shark's head has broken free from the hook.

[Connor] You wanna wrap her? I can get her.

[Tadzio] Yeah, wrap her, please, 'cause she spat the hook.

To get the measurements and biopsy, shark wrangler

Connor Cassidy needs to lasso the tiger's head

so the team can bring the animal next to the boat.

[Tadzio] Get another rope ready.

We've gotta go over the center of the animal, huh?

I got the tail, so her motion is limited.

[team member] Lower it down a little bit.

[Dr. Austin] Yeah, he got it.

Tiger sharks are flexible enough to bite their own tail.

With one wrong move, Connor could lose a limb.

[menacing music playing]

[Tadzio] This guy has some cojones [indistinct].

[menacing music playing]

[Tadzio] This guy has some [bleep] cojones [indistinct].

[menacing music playing]

-[team member #2] You got it. -[Dr. Austin] You got it.

-Got it. High five. -[Tadzio] Whoo-hoo!

Now you take the line from him.

-[team member #1] Yeah. -[team member #2] Come over.

[Dr. Austin] Shark's calming down.

Thank you, sir.

Alright, we got measurements. That PCL is 265.

-[Tadzio] Let's do it. -[Dr. Austin] That's a big shark.

[Tadzio] Let me just start the SAT tag.

We're almost there, mama.

[Tadzio] Alright, here's the genetic sample.

See if this matches up.

And we're good for release.

[Dr. Austin] Alright, we're good for release.

-Here we go. -Shark's free.

[team cheers]

-[team member] First of the day. -[Dr. Austin First of the day.

Alright, let's do it all over again.

The team successfully samples and attaches a satellite tag

to this large tiger shark.

Judging by its size and aggressive behavior,

it fits the profile of the killer shark.

[Kinga] The water's so clear.

Back at Man O'War Shoals,

the Sphere radiates low frequency vibrations

known to attract sharks.

[Nikki] Shark, starboard side, right here, shark.

We got a shark, we got a shark on the starboard side.

[Nikki] It's going down towards the Sphere.

[menacing music playing]

[Nikki] Hey, Kinga!

[Kinga speaking]

This tiger shark has a missing upper caudal fin,

a unique scar that could connect it

to the eyewitness reports of the Devil Shark.

[menacing music playing]

[Kinga speaking]

[Kinga] She came so close, face-to-face with me.

She's big. That is a big shark.

-Alright, guys. -[Nikki] Incredible.

Several miles away on the Saba Banks,

Austin and Tadzio have hooked up a monster.

[Dr. Austin] That's a big shark, guys.

That's a big shark. Heads up!

[Tadzio] Almost got it, almost got it.

Oh, it's pulling the hook. [bleep] it's pulling the hook.

-[bleep] [bleep] -[Dr. Austin] Let go, Tad.

A shark that can drag a buoy this size underwater is,

by far, the biggest the team has faced.

Maybe even the size of the legendary Devil Shark.

[team member speaking]

Yeah, she hooked it. There it is.

There it is.

[bleep] that's gotta be a big fish.

[Tadzio] That's a big animal.

The buoy is all the way under the water.

Oh, it just popped up.

Pretty sure that's popped. Or is it still on it?

Let's go up to it.

It might still be on it, but I think it's popped.

[Dr. Austin] Alright, grab that line.

Well, there's definitely no shark on this, Tadz.

[Tadzio] Holy [bleep].

Look at how it straightened the hook.

We've caught many, many big tiger sharks

with this same setup.

So just the fact that it broke off and completely bent

the hook makes me think that there might be some truth

behind the existence of the Djabwey.

Spirit of Saba, this is Lady Rebecca -- over.

[Kinga] Lady Rebecca, this is Spirit of Saba.

We just had about a 12-foot tiger shark show up.

That's great news. Well, you know,

we tagged that one shark this morning,

but you're not gonna believe what happened.

We had a huge shark here.

It bent the hook, one of the biggest ones

we've probably ever caught here.

Austin, you're not gonna believe this either, man.

-The shark is already pinging. -Really?

Yeah, on the Devil's Reef area.

Hey, Kinga, we just got a ping from one of those tiger sharks,

we tagged this morning.

Looks like it's about six miles south

of where we initially tagged it.

Gonna send you the coordinates now.

[Kinga] Copy that. We're coming your way.

We're gonna do a night dive.

♪♪

The team chases the fresh ping to Devil's Reef,

the site infamous for Djabwey sightings.

[Dr. Austin] This is a very unique spot

on the south side of the island.

I think it makes sense for us to head over there

and see if nighttime might be the trick

for finding a large tiger.

Tiger sharks prefer to hunt at night,

using the cover of darkness to ambush prey.

[Tadzio] We saw that the Sphere did an amazing job

during the day, so I really can't wait to see what it does at night.

But here's the thing -- nighttime, it's sketchier.

-[Tadzio] I know. -You can't always see what you're doing.

And with tiger sharks, like we saw the other day,

you need to be making eye contact.

You guys ready? It's gonna be intense.

-Absolutely. -It's going to be nighttime.

We're gonna stay together, close.

-[Tadzio] I got your back. -I got your back.

-Got your back. -[Tadzio] Got it.

-We all got each other's backs. -Got it.

So we're going down with some polespears.

Kinga, Tadz, you, and I.

And hopefully, we will get close enough to get

a sample or two from one of these really big sharks.

[Nikki] Three, two, one, go for it.

[intense music playing]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

The team makes their way to the shark Sphere,

which has been deployed on the sea floor nearby.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

Hey, guys, I just saw a huge shadow right behind you guys.

Keep an eye out.

♪♪

[suspenseful music playing]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

The pulses from the Sphere

mimic those of an active volcano.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

The Sphere attracts a girthy 16-foot tiger shark

[menacing music playing]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

This enormous tiger

matches the profile of the recent killer

and the legendary Devil Shark.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[Nikki] Alright, guys. Let's go get a rest.

You guys can come on up.

[Tadzio, Kinga and Dr. Austin speaking]

[epic music playing]

[Kinga] Let me help you.

[Dr. Austin Holy smokes, man. What was that, dude?

-[Tadzio] That was crazy. -[Dr. Austin] That was so intense.

That may well be the Djabwey of lore.

-That's the Djabwey-size. -That could be Djabwey-size.

That was, for sure, the biggest tiger shark

that we've tagged yet on this expedition.

-[Tadzio] Awesome. -I'm excited to get

some analysis on this and see

what's really going on with this population of tigers.

[Tadzio] I know. I can't wait.

Sample on ice and some rum. Let's go.

Exactly. Let's have a glass of rum.

Sounds good.

It was crazy.

One of the most wild shark dives I've ever had.

[Kinga speaking]

[Dr. Austin Lots of energy, and then these big, beautiful tigers.

Volcanic activity definitely brings out the big shark.

We don't know if this was the Djabwey,

but that was one of the biggest tiger sharks

I've ever seen.

[Kinga] We feel really good about this mission.

We were able to get a lot of genetic material

from different tiger sharks around the Saba Bank

and Saba Island itself.

We're gonna send that material off to the lab,

and I cannot wait to see what kind of information

we get back.

[intriguing music playing]

[Dr. Austin] Hey, guys. How's it going?

Hey, awesome. How are you guys?

Good, good. Good to see everyone again.

Tadz, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you got for us.

Dude, it's wild. Take a look at this.

We compared the DNA samples to the DNA sample

that we have on file of our shark

that is responsible for the attacks.

And unfortunately, there was no match, guys.

-I'm sorry. -OK.

But I did find something quite cool.

Check this out.

So this is actually the third time

that we caught and tagged the same exact shark.

-Oh, wow. -Oh.

So we tagged her for the first time in 2021.

Then we tagged her again in '23.

And then the last time we tagged her

was when we were together on the Saba Bank this year.

Whoa! OK, so that means those sharks,

they're not just passing through.

They actually live there.

Exactly. It's their home.

So this really does give some credence

to the legend of Djabwey.

[Tadzio] Definitely.

These fishermen are more than likely

seeing the same sharks over and over again

because they actually do reside along that section

of the Saba Bank that we call the Devil's Ridge.

Whoa! Look, I've done a lot of expeditions,

sometimes you don't get exactly what you're looking for...

-Yeah. -...but this still tells us

a lot about this resident population of tiger sharks.

I really think that this is only the beginning.

Austin's team never found the killer or if it's Djabwey,

but what they did learn was something chilling.

There's a gang of tiger sharks patrolling these waters.

And lately...

they're acting bolder,

more aggressive.

Some say it's the volcano.

If that's true, then there's not just one Djabwey...

but dozens.