Manatees and Molas - Ocean's Gentlest Giants | Ocean Stories | FD Ocean

German filmmaker Thomas Behrendt has been fascinated by the world of the oceans since his childhood. On diving expeditions which take him all over the world, he encounters creatures which very few people have the chance to set eyes upon. Are you sure? This time Thomas is on the search for two mystical giants. And gets closer to them than expected. Together with a team of experts, the cameraman is setting off on a quest for the mysterious ocean sunfish. The search will take them round half the globe. Thanks to modern technology, unique images are captured at depths hardly reachable for divers. Thomas tracks down another vehement. This one in the rivers of Florida. The manatee. With him are people who have made the protection of this endangered species their lives worth. One, two, three, pull! The trail of the world's largest osteicty, or bony fish, leads Thomas first to California. The ocean sunfish is observed regularly off the Pacific coast. Supporting the filming is underwater photographer Mike Johnson. Mike has been photographing sunfish for 20 years and knows exactly how and where to find them. Thomas is interested in how Mike manages to get these deep sea fish in front of his camera so often. The answer lies directly off the coast. Giant seaweed, also known as kelp, covers the surface of the water. Only beneath the surface can the true dimensions of the kelp be seen, however. It reaches up to tree height, creating a stunning underwater world. The alga can reach 30 meters in height and can grow up to one meter in a single day. Balloon-like gas-filled bladders help to stabilize the stems. The kelp forest offers nutrition and protection to various lifeforms. Well hidden in a tangle of stites, a kelp crab goes in search of food. The giant alga is anchored to the rocky ocean floor by the holdfast, an adhesive organ. Although it may appear otherwise, there are no roots. The alga draws its nutrition from the water through its leaf-like blades. The kelp labyrinth hides a multitude of life. To fish like the kelp bass, it offers food, spawning opportunities and outstanding shelter all in one. In turn, the rich fishing grounds attract hunters like the seal. Sea anemones trap their prey at the base, while the enormous sunflower star roams through all the levels on its hunt for food. The ocean sunfish, however, is nowhere to be found. Nevertheless, its appearance off the coast is connected with the kelp forest. Tides and waves tug continuously at the 30-meter long algae. When they tear away, they rise to the surface, then drift towards the open sea. These floating stites will lead Thomas and Mike onto the trail of the ocean sunfish. We want to get out offshore as far as we possibly can in a small boat, into deeper water where we're more likely to see real kelp paddies. Thomas and Mike get clear of the coast. The kelp is floating somewhere far out in the Pacific. Will they find the right place and meet the ocean sunfish? The Crystal River in western Florida. Here, Thomas is in search of another ocean roamer, the manatee. The Crystal River is one of the most beautiful riverscapes in Florida. A paradise, especially for birds. Pelicans have spotted a school of fish. Virtually exterminated by pesticides in the middle of the last century, they are once again a common sight here. Thomas is going diving with scientist Bob Bondy. Bob knows Florida's manatees like no other. Manatees are supposed to be sea mammals living out in the ocean. So what are they doing out here in the river? They are marine adapted, but they're also very aquatic. And they will come in and utilize rivers to drink the water, to take advantage of the warm water that's there, and to look for forage and other vegetation. Got a satellite picture here from the Gulf and the area. You can see manatees can move incredible distances between the panhandle in Florida, then go all the way to the tip of Florida. They can go along the Atlantic seaboard all the way up to Rhode Island, if they so desire. So their migration capability is extraordinary. Manatees are really marathoners and they can swim incredible distances if they need to and if they want to. The Crystal River is one of the most important wintering sites for manatees. The building boom of recent decades has changed the water quality, however. Now only the Three Sisters Springs are crystal clear. Bob wants to check which of his charges are spending the winter here at the Warm Springs. He's been observing them for decades. By now, they have become a part of his life. Oh, it's a privilege. I mean, face it. I started doing this 30 years ago and there were a few manatees out there, but even today, there are more. And so we see the reaps and the rewards of what's going on with our conservation, and that's gratifying. They're a magnificent animal and we have a lot to learn from them. Bob can identify individual animals based on their particular features. A waterproof pen and sketchboard are always to hand. It's basically my way of keeping notes while I'm down there. I've done the best I could to draw a silhouette of a manatee, and as I see scars on the manatee, I'll draw on each of the silhouettes and then keep track of the frames. You can see, you can write down the number of the picture that I end up taking, so that when I get back into the office, I can match these up. Oh, you can't help but love a manatee. They're very endearing. Old pioneers and sailors used to call them mermaids. They must have been at sea a long, long time, but if you look at them closely and you see through their funny-looking face, they really are a very interesting, endearing creature. Bob's investigations reveal that these ponderous creatures can reach an advanced age of up to 50 years. Their laid-back way of life often leads them into dangerous situations, as their many injuries testify. Generally, you know, no manatee is exempt from getting scars from boats that they interact with out in the environment. As you can see, many of these manatees, if not all of them, have some evidence of their interaction with boats. The Californian coast. Far out on the Pacific, on their search for the sunfish, Thomas and Mike are on the lookout for floating kelp. Mike makes the decisive discovery. Birds are really an important factor in finding kelp paddies. We may not see the kelp, but we see the birds, and if we see birds together, that tells us there's probably something underneath them. It's hard for Thomas to believe that he'll encounter the largest bony fish in the world under such a small layer of seaweed. While Mike secures the boat to the kelp island, the filmmaker prepares for his dive. Under the floating seaweed, he makes a surprising discovery. This tiny island in the middle of the vast ocean has a magical attraction for fish. Shoals of sardines and perches find food and shelter in the shadow of the kelp. Thomas is impressed with the vibrant life under the seaweed canopy. Blue half-moon perches have probably travelled with the flotsam, while tree fish are hatched in the kelp. Thomas is so busy filming that he only just notices the perches swimming purposefully in one direction. Out of nowhere, an ocean sunfish suddenly emerges. Now it's obvious who the half-moon perches have in their sights. How the sunfish found the floating island remains a mystery, although the reason for his arrival quickly becomes clear. The sunfish and the half-moon perch have clearly been waiting for each other. The larger animal is seeking the help of the smaller ones to rid himself of annoying parasites. These incomparable fish communicate with a simple signal. The sunfish raises himself up and freezes, the invitation for the perches to begin the clean-up job. The skin of the common molar, as the ocean sunfish is also known, is one of the thickest in the entire animal kingdom, at around 7 centimetres. It stabilises the creature's huge body like a suit of armour, but doesn't protect against parasite infestation. The secretive fish disappears from Thomas' sight as quickly as it arrived. Molars can be found spread practically all over the world, not just on the American Pacific coast. All the same, very little is known about them. In the evening, Thomas gets a call from Italy. Ocean sunfish have been seen in the Mediterranean, off the coast of the island of Elba. The filmmaker doesn't want to miss his chance and decides to fly to Europe. This search will be harder than in California, as there are no kelp islands in the Mediterranean. The team prepares in Elba harbour. This time, the expedition will go down to greater depths. On board is underwater photographer Roberto Rinaldi. Last year, he spotted some ocean sunfish here on a deep-sea dive. Roberto, I've got a map here from Elba. Do you remember where you find the sunfish? It comes very close to the coast, so we just have to walk. The depth is pretty much, because it's below 50 metres, but we have to dive a lot and we have to stay a long time in the bottom, because otherwise the chance we have to meet and to see these mollamola fish, I am afraid, that will be always less and less, because the time frame last year, it was very short. Good, then let's go. Last time, the sunfish disappeared after only three days. Thomas is relying on the remotely operated underwater vehicle. It's expected to provide pictures from the vast depths. An opportunity which shark expert Eleonora de Sabata does not want to miss. This is a chance of a lifetime. We hardly ever go so deep in the Mediterranean, so anything we find out will be absolutely new to science. And mollas, we know that sharks eat mollas, so wouldn't it be fantastic if we saw a shark attacking a molla right in front of our eyes? Fingers crossed. The team complete, the search for the sunfish can begin. It doesn't take long for the boat to reach its destination. Close to the island, the ocean floor drops away steeply. It's too deep for longer dives here, so the underwater ROV is used in place of human divers. The team is excited, but something isn't quite right. Such a violent impact was not part of the plan. The ROV doesn't react. The two technicians are at a loss. For Thomas, it's the worst thing that could have happened. Someone must now go down and bring the device back up. Roberto takes the plunge. Only with a special rebreather set can he get down to the necessary 60 metres. And his time on the sea floor is limited. Thomas is not comfortable with the thought that Roberto will be diving solo. For a few nerve-wracking minutes, the diver finally appears on the screen. A short while later, air bubbles indicate Roberto's ascent. He must wait one more hour to decompress, however, before he can safely return to the very surface. In the meantime, the team salvages the damaged ROV and begins the diagnostic check straight away. The evening, the technicians find the problem. The drive control is broken and must be replaced, meaning a long and forced break for the expedition. To Florida. The manatees are still dozing in their pool. Their metabolisms are so slow that they would freeze without this natural heating system. The morning grooming routine is carried out by sunfish. They rid the manatees of algae, parasites and dead skin. As with the molar, the sloping posture of the manatee seems to incite the shoal of fish to their task. Not far away from the warm springs, Thomas and Bob Bondy discover a manatee with her calf. Thomas is amazed. They are heading straight for the two men. In winter, the creatures only leave the warm springs in order to graze on the riverbed. Manatees are the only sea mammals which live on plants. The vegetarian lifestyle comes at a price, though, especially when they are young to feed. Mothers spend eight hours a day in search of food. Manatees take every aspect of life at a slow pace, a reason why they only reproduce every two to five years. Unlike most mammals, manatees have their teats under their armpits. Their Indian name probably comes from this peculiarity. Manatee means breast. No one can distract the mother from her food, neither the calf in tow nor the diver. She only interrupts her meal for short moments to breathe. Every five to eight minutes, she replenishes her air supply. Then it's back to the guzzling. The calf has drunk the milk supply dry. Only when the mother has produced new stocks will it return. Tracking down manatees in a shallow river proves much easier than finding a sunfish in the wide Pacific Ocean. Without the help of experts like marine biologist Tierney Teese, the quest would be hopeless. She is exclusively researching molas. It wasn't really until graduate school that I took a strong interest in them. My advisor had a little picture of a mola on his door, and that was just the craziest looking fish I'd ever seen. It was a little picture for such a big fish, and I was hooked. The team wants to fix a satellite transmitter onto a sunfish. Tierney has already provided more than a dozen animals worldwide with transmitters for her research. This is a weight to carry. The larger the animal, the less a burden. We're looking for an animal that's healthy and large. That's all we need. So we look for kelp paddies, we look for fins sticking up, and we listen for Darren who's got the perspective from the sky. Darren Maurer, the pilot, has a much larger area in view from up in his plane than the team down in the boat. This calls for patience. Not exactly one of Thomas' strong points. The hours pass with no word from Darren. Thomas uses the time to learn more about molas from Tierney. Who's eating the mola? Do they have any enemies? We can see who's eating them often. Sea lions will eat them, orcas. But the parasites can also help us. It's fun, the parasites really are this fun little detective story. We find larval shark tapeworm parasites on mola. And so we know that for that tapeworm to complete its life cycle, it has to get into a shark. Which means that a shark's got to eat the mola. Will the sunfish stay on the surface for long enough? Mike pushes his little boat to the max. Things have to happen quickly now. Tierney has problems anchoring the transmitter into the centimetres thick skin of the struggling fish. Made it. Tierney releases the fish back to freedom. Still a little dazed, the creature vanishes into the wide ocean. The transmitter will plot all of his movements, before detaching itself in around three months. Roger, the tag was deployed. Your fish was about two metres. Here, look, Mike, how slimy it is. Look here, all the slime, I just barely couldn't hold it. They have a very thick protective coating, which may be a way of protecting themselves against jellyfish stings as well. But that's a protective mucus coating that can protect them against all sorts of infections. The injured hands are evidence of the rough skin beneath the protective mucus. The day has been a complete success for the team. Through the satellite transmitter, Tierney will get to know even more about the secluded life of the sunfish. Animals bearing transmitters can also be found in the warm springs of the Crystal River. Thomas and Bob get on the trail. It's clearly somewhere in this angle here. The signal is clear and distinct. The manatee must be nearby. The animals with transmitters help Bob to establish which parts of the river must be closed off to humans. So there's some site fidelity patterns that we've learned that manatees have, directly from putting radio tags on them and observing these migrations that they make. It's very important because they use the corridors that are out there, the waterways that we use for our same boats. So that interaction between boats and manatees is a serious problem. So here's the entrance to the sanctuary where we might be able to see the manatee. Oh yeah, here it is. Beneath the buoy is a resting manatee with an unusual wound. We were surprised when we saw this manatee and it looked like it had a wound inflicted by a propeller. But at close examination, we determined that this was actually a shark bite. This animal had been attacked out in the marine system before it had come into Crystal River. But there's very little evidence that manatees are actually preyed upon by sharks and successful, or by alligators. It does happen, but it's a pretty rare occurrence, fortunately for the manatees. Very close to the men, a manatee is lingering, obviously dangerously underheated. A rescue team led by scientist Andrew Garrett is aiming to capture the animal and transport it to a special manatee hospital for medical care. Thomas is up close to the action. But first, the creature has to be found. Eventually, the helpers locate the weakened manatee. A colleague signals the exact position to Garrett. The net can be brought out. The netting must happen quickly, so the animal does not escape. Finally, the manatee is in the trap, but the hardest part is still to come. Only with combined strength can the several hundred kilo animal be heaved on board. All right, slack tail, slack tail, slack tail. All right, ready? One, two, three, pull. Got a fish, too. Let's get that fish out of there. Big jack. There you go. The manatee is in a critical condition. One, two, three. It requires urgent medical attention. Veterinary surgeon Dr. Murphy, from the manatee clinic at Lo Ripard Zoo Tampa, is already waiting for the exhausted creature. He begins first aid on the patient. Cold-stressed animal that's got a lot of infection in her tail, in her pecs. She's been like that for a while. After Dr. Murphy has given her antibiotics, the under-heated animal urgently needs warmth. Her slow metabolism can only generate a meager body temperature. No, she's in critical shape. If she survives the first few days, then we might be able to upgrade her chances of making it. But right now, she's really teetering on the edge, and she could easily die on us in the next 30 minutes, or could die on us by tomorrow morning. There is a glimmer of hope, however. The rescued animal still has a healthy appetite. Good news from Italy. The ROV is functional again, and ready to go. This time, it reaches its destination without incident, and provides some razor-sharp images. At 70 metres, sprawls a colourful tropical reef. Oxygen-rich water generates enough nutrition to sustain an unexpected abundance of life, surprising at this depth. Only the ocean's sunfish is nowhere to be seen. I think the best is we just hover here, and then we pan from left to right and have an overview, and just wait, that's all we can do. The hours pass, yet nothing happens. Nothing. What's that? It's a molar. And it's not alone. Out of nowhere, three molars emerge over the edge of the reef, but they are unsettled by the ROV. A fourth fish now appears. Why are they gathering here at the reef? The upright posture reminds Thomas of the sunfish he observed under the kelp island in California. And true enough, like before, as if on a secret signal, a few smaller fish approach the sunfish. Here in the Mediterranean, exactly as they did off the Pacific coast of California, the sunfish are looking for particular spots at which they can rid themselves of parasites. Eleonora and Thomas are spellbound. Then comes a shout from the prow of the boat. The captain has seen a molar on the surface. Right away, everyone is on deck. A school of pilot fish leads the filmmaker to the scene. It's a hunting sunfish. His method may seem unspectacular, but his prey is not to be taken lightly. Molars feed mainly on jellyfish and other forms of Cnidaria. Although a single contact with a Portuguese man o' war can be fatal for a human, sunfish gobble them up without hesitation. Their thick mucous coating offers complete protection against the blue poison tentacles. Thomas is delighted. But it won't be his only spectacular encounter today. The reason why we're going at night is that because the six-gill shark is an animal that lives in the depth, and then at 2,000 meters it's always very dark, it's pitch black, which is also the reason why it has such a big green eye, which is capable to see in the dark. And we're going there at nighttime because he's used, he, she, they are used to these kind of situations. Again, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. A night dive among sharks carries certain risks. Sometimes there can be a problem if the shark comes too close. For safety, Eleonora is taking along a harpoon. OK, looks good. Yeah, I think we can go. In the glow of their lamps, Eleonora and Thomas begin to submerge into total darkness. The sea looks completely lifeless. At around 30 meters, they finally reach a rocky plateau. Was that a shadow? Thomas can hardly believe his eyes. Right in front of them, a mighty six-gill shark patrols the ground. At night, these deep-water dwellers rise to higher levels in order to hunt. The sluggish movements are deceptive. The four-meter-long shark can swim extremely fast. Even though no attack on humans has ever been known, its size alone commands respect. Bright light at the lamps is disturbing the shark, and he seems annoyed. The team doesn't want to risk anything, so they move a distance away. Like the sunfish, the six-gill shark is found worldwide and is also a wanderer between the deep water and the ocean surface. Remains of molars have been found in the stomachs of sharks. Just a coincidence? Or does the six-gill shark specifically hunt sunfish? No one knows the answer. To this day, hardly anything is known about these mysterious deep-sea inhabitants. At the Crystal River in Florida, spring has arrived. In a few weeks, the manatees will leave their winter habitat for the open sea. Thomas wants to pay them one last visit before they disappear into the Gulf of Mexico. An animal approaches his boat inquisitively. The sirens, as earlier seafarers also called the manatees, are supposed to have enticed men into the water to their doom. Thomas is also powerless to resist. Hardly is the cameraman in the water, then the sea maiden has vanished into a cloud of silt. As the cloud lifts, the colossus seems to have been swallowed up by the earth. Unseen by Thomas, the manatee approaches him from behind. The filmmaker is surprised as the massive creature sidles up to him. And it's not alone. The staff seems to be taking Thomas for one of its own. It faces an uncertain future, even more so since the explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon in April 2010. At least there is good news from the manatee hospital. The hypothermia victim is on the road to recovery. She seems to be a winner. I think right now we're going to have to see if she's going to lose some of her flippers or she's going to lose some of her tail because of the severe cold injury to those tissues. So we're just going to have to see. And another patient, baby Coral, will be released into the wild today. She didn't have enough time to get back to warm water before it got really cold. Because she was radio-tagged, we knew where she was. We all made a decision that the water was way too cold. She'd most likely die before she got back to the warm water side. So we went ahead and rescued her. An estimated 4,500 manatees live off the coast of the USA. In winter 2010, almost one in ten fell victim to the cold, making the work of the hospital all the more important. With the help of a satellite transmitter, every movement of baby Coral can be tracked. The data can hopefully be used to more effectively protect these friendly creatures. For baby Coral, today marks the end of a dramatic odyssey and at the same time the start of a new life of freedom. His experiences on the Crystal River have left a lasting impression on Thomas. Even though the homeland of the manatee is under threat, he hopes to see these gentle giants here again sometime. A few months later in California. Now, high summer, is the best season for spotting large fish. And if there's anyone who'll find them, it's Darren. Yeah, I've seen the swordfish here and the mola as well. Here, here, here. My chance is to see a really, really big monster mola. How do you think my odds are? I would say this year, pretty slim. Pretty slim odds. It's just one of those years I haven't seen very many large animal. It's just been a different weather pattern we're in. The water's cooler this year, much cooler than normal. So, I haven't seen any. Okay, so you're going to phone me whenever you catch something. Okay, Darren, see you. Okay, see you out there. Time enough for a quick trip to TNT's. When the sun comes up at six in the morning, the mola starts diving down. The scientist has followed the travels of the tagged sunfish via satellite for the last few months. Thomas notices a recurring pattern in the recordings. Seems like a normal working day, going up at six. Look what we can see. The fish isn't lazy at all. It actually, it's going up and down and up and down and up and down. And to deep water. Targets, presumably, it's food, here at around 250 metres. And staying there for about an hour and then coming back up. So, why do they go up? Warming up like a big solar panel. There's a lot of things going on with why the sunfish is at the surface. So, it could be getting cleaned at the surface by birds or by fish. It could be warming itself. Also, by being at the very surface, the sun could be baking off the parasites. UV radiation. And when the sun sets, it stays up at the surface. In the night time, so many animals migrate up into the upper waters. So, while it may look like it's being restful, it could very well be eating. Are there any more secrets you want to discover? What do you want to still find out? We want to know their behaviour and their movement patterns in fine detail. So that we can better inform fishermen, you know, how to change their nets. Or how to change their fishing pressure. The mola play a hugely important role in the ocean food web. Because they're the world's largest jellyfish eater. Back at harbour, Thomas gets the message he's been waiting for. Darren, is it? Yeah? No, really? Okay. In two hours, out at the sea. The filmmaker sets off right away, together with Mike Johnson. The little boat, Flying Fish, heads for its objective at top speed. Are you sure? This animal is massive. Finally, Thomas and Mike reach the given position. Even from a distance, the filmmaker realises what a giant awaits him. Thomas has dreamed of an encounter like this since his childhood. For months, the cameraman has been on the trail of manatees and ocean sunfish. Learning much about these mysterious giants. And filming hitherto unknown scenes. This meeting, however, is the climax of his voyage. It's only a few fleeting moments. But Thomas enjoys them to the full. Then the molar vanishes once again into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.