Original subtitles

All right. I'm getting in there.

There is a huge stonefish right there!

That's a fish?

I'm getting into the water with the most dangerous fish

in the world.

Look at that!

My name is coyote peterson, and I've traveled the world

seeking out the most fascinating animals on our planet.

Look at that!

No matter the location,

my mission has always been the same --

to get up close and uncover the secrets of the creatures

that we often misunderstand or, even worse, fear.

Every animal has a story, and I brave the wild to tell it.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by discovery communications

on this expedition, we're exploring a world

that exists on the cusp of civilization --

the inner tidal pools of australia.

This location is home to some of the world's

most fascinating marine creatures

many of which are incredibly venomous,

and it's our goal to track down

and get up close with those that can be considered deadly.

Unlike other beaches around the world,

one misplaced step along this shoreline

could lead to your ultimate demise.

♪

♪

the island country of australia is known

for its high concentration of venomous wildlife.

From snakes to spiders, this wild place boasts

some of the most dangerous creatures in the world,

and its tide pools are no different.

The shores of australia's sunshine coast

are a postcard mix of white sands,

bright aquamarine water, and crashing waves.

They're also home to some of the world's

most dangerous tide pools.

So what exactly is a tide pool?

All continents are wrapped with shorelines.

When the tide recedes, tide pools are formed.

There are micro ocean ecosystems

that are revealed twice a day during the tide.

These isolated pockets serve as a temporary refuge

for marine species

that are awaiting the return of high tide.

Now, the reason I think they're so much fun to explore

is because you never know

which animals you're going to encounter.

♪

so this is pretty much where the beach runs out

and the tide pools are going to begin.

Now, we've arrived here at the perfect time of day.

The tide is receding back,

which means all these pools are gonna become exposed.

However, with the exposure comes a lot of dangers,

specifically the environment.

Slippery rocks, guys.

Now, this area here, check that out.

Total dry because it's been exposed to the sun

for a couple hours, but as we get deeper

into the pools, it's gonna get treacherous.

So let's make our way through this boulder field

and start looking for creatures.

♪

just take your time, guys.

It's gonna get slick right here.

This may be a lot more treacherous

than we thought it was gonna be,

especially with the water coming in.

Just the weight of that water will take your legs.

Boom!

You can slip and go down, and when you hit those rocks,

you're gonna hit hard, so take your time, guys.

Let's find ourselves some tide-pool creatures.

♪

a rock like this is actually the perfect place

to search for an octopus.

In many instances, I'll actually just sort of slide my hands up

underneath these rocks to feel for things,

but not here in the australian tide pools.

A lot of these animals are so incredibly venomous,

they can be considered deadly.

Interesting story, just a couple weeks ago in this exact area,

a tourist was here visiting australia.

She was in the tide pools,

and she saw a blue-ringed octopus,

did not know what the species was,

picked it up and admired it and then let it go,

and the thing that's so dangerous about this species is

the bite also contains a numbing agent,

so she was bitten,

didn't realize it and 20 minutes later

walking down the beach collapsed in cardiac arrest.

She had to be life-flown to the hospital.

There, she was in a coma for two weeks.

Miraculously, she did recover and survive,

but that's an indicator as to just how dangerous

these creatures in the marine pools really are.

All right, the tide's continuing to drop.

The conditions are becoming optimal,

and I have a good feeling we're gonna really start

finding some creatures.

♪

this is interesting.

We came around this bend here,

and look, we've been walking for over an hour,

and you can see humans in the background,

and that's what's so crazy about this environment.

You're right on the cusp of wilderness and civilization,

which is the perfect cocktail for danger.

We have humans that are curious coming into the tide pools

to look for different species or just to have fun,

and, of course, they're coexisting

with these extremely venomous creatures.

Let's check down in this craggy area here

and see what we can find.

♪

oh, look at this! Check this out!

Oh, man! That is --

that's a little man o' war, isn't it?

Yeah, let me grab a container.

Yeah, get a container.

♪

yes! Check that out!

That's a quintessential

biological land mine right there.

You can see how small this jellyfish really is.

For such a simple little creature,

it's pretty complex-looking.

The coolest thing about it is the blue coloration, right?

One of my favorite words, aposematic coloration,

basically warning you that, "I am toxic."

the clear air bubble on top which keeps them afloat

is almost impossible to see,

but you will notice that blue length of the nematocysts.

That's where all of the venom is kept.

If you're out there swimming, one of these brushes

across your face, it's not gonna kill you,

but it is going to be uncomfortable.

Very cool.

Well, that's our first creature at the tide pool.

Starting off small but nonetheless dangerous.

Let's get this back into the water,

keep moving and see what else we can find.

♪

there he goes.

As the tide continued to recede,

more tide pools were becoming exposed,

increasing our chances for finding animals.

One of the best places to look is under rocks, but then again,

sometimes the least expected encounters can happen

by simply being in the right place at the right time.

Dude. Sea snake.

Sea! Sea snake!

That is a sea snake!

Oh, my goodness!

Yes!

These are extremely venomous.

Oh, uh-oh. Okay.

He's like, "somebody is in the environment."

sea snakes are some of the most toxic reptiles

on the face of the planet.

Let me see if I can lift it up here.

I have to be very, very careful.

A bite from this snake could kill you.

Go this way. Go this way.

Now, you don't oftentimes find sea snakes in tide pools,

but with rough surf like this,

you do have them getting pushed in,

so that's probably why it is marooned here.

Oh. Yep, coming right towards me there.

Yeah, I just want to stay away from the head there.

They're rather slow-moving.

Wow. Okay. Hold on a second.

Let me get collected here for a moment.

Did not expect to find this.

[ exhales ]

working with a sea snake, though,

definitely will make you nervous.

I just have to constantly keep my eyes on the reptile.

I would say that this is probably the...

Would this be the second most dangerous snake species

we've ever interacted with?

This is top, yeah.

This is more potent than the yellow-bellied sea snake?

Potentially, maybe equal.

Okay.

If they need to, they can move extremely quickly,

so I don't want to agitate it too much.

Let me see if I can lift it up here.

I have to be very, very careful.

Okay. Yep. Ooh!

Coyote: I don't want to agitate it too much.

Let me see if I can lift it up here.

Very, very careful. Okay. Yep.

-Ooh! -Whoa!

Oh, don't want him to strike at me.

-Whoa! Whoa! -Oh.

See, he's opening up his mouth there.

What I'm gonna do is just gently get control of his head

so that we can keep him up a bit,

and this will be safer for myself and the snake.

♪

just gently, gently, gently pin his head.

Like all reptiles, they can be out of water,

but they don't move real well on land.

♪

wow.

It is a neurotoxic venom that these snakes are armed with

and the venom is extremely potent.

That's because they're hunting for fish.

Imagine how fast a fish is,

so this snake needs to bite the fish

and immediately be able to take it out.

There you go. Now, it's opening its mouth.

You can see those rows of teeth in there.

You can also see the way that the jaw separates,

so think about a reptile like this consuming a fish.

Their head completely needs to deconstruct and stretch

so that they can swallow their prey down.

If you were to be tagged by a snake like this,

it could cost you your life.

If you were to ever come across a sea snake

in the tide pool, whatever you do,

I urge you, do not try to interact with it.

Do not pick it up.

While it may seem docile and it doesn't move very quick,

if it manages to get a hold of you,

you're gonna be in some serious trouble.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, "oh, coyote,

why don't you move it out into the deeper water?"

that turbulent surf would only throw the snake around.

It would be very violent for it,

so as the tide continues to come in,

which it's doing right now,

it will eventually fill this pocket with water,

and the snake will be able to gradually move

its way back out into the ocean.

Interacting with a highly venomous snake is never easy.

Your heart races.

Your hands fight to keep steady and your adrenaline skyrockets.

Remember, just a single bite packs enough venom

to kill a human.

So far, I think it's safe to say that these tide pools

are living up to their dangerous reputation.

♪

♪

we found a little sea cucumber.

This is a tiny little one.

Let's see if I can coax it out here.

Yeah. Oh, man.

Look how big it is.

-Whoa! -Wow!

Oh, man.

Way bigger than I thought it was gonna be.

Look at that beaster!

Now, it is full of water right now.

Oh! Look at that!

See, that's what they do. Oh!

They spit out water, and this is one of the ones

that has the crazy sticky spider-man fluid!

Oh, I got coated!

-Ew! -Look at that!

That is like the stickiest snot you will ever come across.

Here, mario, put your hand out there,

and just feel how sticky that is.

Now, that's a defense mechanism.

That's not gonna cause me any harm,

but if you were a predator and you got

that tingled up in your mouth, it would be no fun.

Look at that bulbous sea cucumber!

Oh, buddy, look at you!

-Oh! -Yeah!

And that's another defense there, squirt out water,

and all it needs to do it push its little head

and mouth part out from underneath one of these rocks,

and it's continuing to filter food and sand through its body.

Oh, did you see that?

It almost just squirted water right into my face.

I'm just gonna turn its rear end like that.

-You see that? -Hey, it squirted at me!

Super cool, one of the safer creatures

you can come across here in the australian tide pools.

What I'm gonna do is place it right next to that crevice,

and we'll keep moving.

♪

oh, look at this. Look at these pools.

They're all way deeper.

All right!

This is what I'm talking about.

You see, all these ripples makes it really hard

to see into the water especially in the deeper pockets,

so what I can actually do to help myself see animals

that might be tucked into these corners

is to use my dive mask.

And I have to ditch the cowboy hat for this maneuver

but hat off, mask on,

and watch this.

See the ripples on the water?

I can basically creep up to an edge like this

without startling an animal and...

♪

I don't see anything.

This is definitely the right spot for us to be searching.

Let me come on this side through these crags.

This is deeper. Let me look here.

♪

dude, there's something down here. Hold on. Hold on.

I think we got a stonefish.

-It's a stonefish. -Where?

There is a stonefish.

Mario, there is a huge stonefish right there.

I'm getting into the water with the most dangerous fish

in the world.

It's a stonefish.

Where? That's a fish?

It looks like a crab on top of its head.

That is a fish.

The stonefish's back is armed with a row of spines.

Each of which is packed with a venom

so powerful that it can cause the body to go into shock,

sometimes resulting in death.

The venom is so agonizing, the victims describe the pain

as having a blowtorch cook your skin

while your bones are smashed into dust

with a sledgehammer.

That is a huge stonefish!

Okay.

I'm gonna have to actually get into the water

to catch this animal.

The size of the stonefish is unbelievable.

It's the biggest stonefish I've ever seen.

Getting into the water with a fish that's this dangerous,

I mean, it's not a shark,

but getting stung by this is gonna be serious problems.

I got to be really, really careful.

Getting into the water

with the most dangerous fish in the world.

Here we go. Okay.

♪

♪

yes! I got it!

You got it. Let me see.

Check that out.

-Look at that! -Whoa!

It just looks like a rock.

That is a massive stonefish.

-Oh! -Holy mackerel.

Just looks like a mass of coral.

Let's do this.

Now that we've got it contained,

it can actually be out of the water

for a considerable amount of time,

but I do want to keep it hydrated.

Let's go to a shallower pool.

I can kind of let it go in there.

We'll take a good look at it.

Yes! Not stung, and we've got it.

♪

all right, guys. This pocket of water is perfect.

The first thing I want to do is actually get it out of the net.

Whoa!

Look at that face, a face only a mother could love.

All right, buddy. Come on out of there.

Be real gentle.

Okay, okay. There we go.

Oh, look at him going! He's like a little goblin.

It's just trying to hunker itself down right now.

It's thinking to itself, "stay camouflage.

Stay camouflage. Don't let anybody see me."

there we go.

Look at that, the stonefish.

Look how bizarre that creature is.

Wow. It doesn't even look like a fish!

It might as well be a rock or a head of coral.

This is actually the mouth right here.

What I'm gonna do is gently open it up.

Watch this.

Maybe, maybe. Look at that. Oh, nope. Let's see.

Giant gaping mouth.

In fact, they can swallow fish whole.

There you go, buddy, close your little mouth back up.

And what it will do is lay on the bottom of a tide pool

or the basin of the ocean completely camouflage.

They will oftentimes even bury themselves down in the sea,

and so only the eyes are visible.

Those are the eyes right there. You see that?

Barely even noticeable, and they will wait for a fish

to swim close and then, just like that, suck in water

and suck the prey right down into their mouths

and swallow it whole,

but the most dangerous thing is the row of 13 spines

that runs along the length of the back.

Let me try this very, very, very gently here

and just slightly pry those up. -Whoa.

Those are the spines right there.

That is the thing that you need to worry about if you're out

walking in the tide pools is stepping down on top of that.

Now, I'm gonna set the fish right back down into the water.

I'm gonna actually switch hands with the glove.

Just let me bring the fish up with my other hand here.

It'll be easier for me to balance it with this.

-Yeah. -Whoa!

-Oh, there he goes. -There we go.

Now, it's getting agitated. You see that?

Just a little bit of agitation, bu that's what we want.

There it is, the row of 13 spines.

Now, they say that 13 is an unlucky number.

When it comes to the stonefish, without question,

this is the most dangerous aspect of this marine creature.

With these forceps, I can actually peel

that sheath down a little bit.

You guys are gonna see that spine. All right.

Now, this is not gonna cause any harm

to the fish in any way whatsoever.

Are we ready? All right. Here we go. One, two, three.

With these forceps, I can actually peel

that sheath down a little bit,

and you guys are gonna see that spine.

All right, now, this not gonna cause any harm to the fish

in any way whatsoever.

All right, here we go. One, two, three.

There's the spine right there.

If your foot were to step down on that full force,

it would push the skin all the way down,

and venom sacks that run just along the length

of the dorsal column

will then squirt that venom into the wound.

It is excruciatingly painful.

Stonefish venom is a cocktail toxicity,

and one of the most potent aspects

is a protein known as verrucotoxin.

If a human accidentally steps on one of these fish,

the pressure of a foot pressing down on the fish's spines

activates a series of venom glands

that run along the dorsal column.

The venom shoots up and into the wound

sending the unlucky victim into excruciating pain.

This pain can send the body into cardiac arrest

and possibly death which ultimately crowns the stonefish

as one of the most lethal marine creatures in the world.

I mean, you look at this creature.

It's not evil. It's not angry.

It's not out there to get humans.

Humans accidentally interact with this fish.

It's gonna do everything it can

to completely avoid any potential predator.

Their goal is to stay hidden,

so when humans do interact with these creatures,

it is just by being in the wrong place

at the wrong time.

Just 40 minutes in that direction is hustle and bustle,

cars, buildings, humans, and right on this coastline,

these animals do interact with us as humans,

so whenever you go out into the tide pools

or even just along the beach,

you have to be weary of your environment.

Watch where you step.

Take your time, and always make sure to take caution

whenever going through the environment.

Even if you're just out there for a swim,

a creature like this is something you can stumble upon.

But how fascinating was this,

exploring the tide pools of australia

and coming across one of the most dangerous fish species

in the world, the one and only stonefish?

I'm coyote peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right, let's get this guy back into his deeper pocket,

get ourselves back toward civilization

before the tide comes in.

I've always been fascinated by tide pools.

By exploring australia's coastline,

we were able to confirm

that it's teeming with potential dangers.

Our journey was a treasure hunt

that led to a series of venomous creatures

and ultimately, a master of camouflage

that can be considered one of the world's

most deadly marine species,

and while the stonefish may be terrifying-looking,

this animal has no interest in harming a human.

Their spines are not a weapon of aggression

but are instead a defense to keep them safe

from the jaws of larger predators.

When it comes to painful interactions with humans,

these generally happen as a result of exploring

in the animal's environment.

So while the sunshine coast is a beautiful place,

if you ever find yourself walking amongst

its countless tide pools,

remember to watch where you step as its deadly inhabitants

could be right underneath your feet.

♪