Episode 7
Creatures from the Deep
Using specially developed underwater tracking time-lapse techniques, Life takes a journey to the unchartered corners of the ocean. It is here that the newest discoveries are being made and the strangest creatures live, from huge spider crabs which gather in their thousands, seeking safety in numbers as they shed their protective shell, to cross-dressing giant squid. Join a 250-strong pack of humboldt squid hunting; see the ultimate self-sacrifice of a Pacific giant octopus mother who starves to death tending her young; and dive under the permanent ice of Antarctica to see a seething carpet of star-fish as they devour a seal pup carcass.
Key animal characters:
• Humboldt squid
• Pacific giant octopus
• Australian giant cuttlefish
• Spider crabs
Cleaner shrimps cleaning fish of parasites
Mudskipper jumps, part of mating display performed by males,
Japan
Humboldt squid hunting in group at night, Baja, California