- 5 months ago
River.Monsters.S08E04.Terror.in.Paradise
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00:01My name is Jeremy Wade, aquatic detective and extreme angler.
00:08I've been fishing the world for decades, investigating unexplained attacks
00:13where the finger of suspicion points to what lies beneath.
00:18I've encountered all manner of stories in my travels around the globe.
00:23Bodies recovered with strange and terrible marks.
00:27Death by a thousand cuts.
00:32Now, my investigations have taken me out to sea,
00:36where the mysteries run as deep as the oceans.
00:40I've heard reports from an island cluster in the Atlantic
00:44of swimmers being ripped from the surface
00:46and of divers disappearing, never to be seen again.
00:50No bodies, no remains.
00:53A tropical paradise rocked by unexplained deaths.
00:56Could something be using these mysterious waters as hunting grounds for humans?
01:02Tales of deadly sea monsters are as old as time, but some stories are very recent.
01:09In a chain of islands in the West Indies, unexplained deaths have been attributed to the
01:38a hideous underwater creature that drags down helpless prey to its deep and secret lair.
01:47Is this killer a figment of fevered imagination?
01:53Or am I looking for a deadly real species?
01:57I must call on all my years of investigation to interrogate the myth and tease out the truth.
02:06My first task is to head to the crime scene.
02:11I'm taking a flight to the Lucian Archipelago, part of the West Indies, and the island of Andros.
02:20Underneath the island lies a hidden network of passageways through the rock.
02:25Where these reach up to the surface, they form what are known as blue holes.
02:36So this is a blue hole. This is actually in the middle of the island.
02:40And I'm just lurking down into the depths.
02:46There are more than 50 of these mysterious blue holes offshore, and over 170 inland,
02:53which have a layer of fresh water over salt water.
02:57Incredibly, 80% of them remain unexplored, but depths have been measured close to 1,000 feet.
03:05What could be living down inside them?
03:11Very clear water, very dark water.
03:14It's quite a spooky feeling, looking down into that.
03:18I've never seen anything like that before.
03:20These island populations are an eclectic mix of African, European and Asian cultures,
03:37giving a unique Caribbean flair.
03:41They're proud of their kinship with the sea.
03:44Here, fishing is not just an industry, it's a way of life.
03:50I skirt the coast south, towards the location of a recent mysterious disappearance,
03:59at an inland blue hole.
04:03I'm on my way to meet a man who apparently can take me to the exact spot
04:07where one of these incidents happened, where somebody was plucked from the surface,
04:12never to be seen again.
04:14Peter has lived on this remote part of the island his whole life,
04:24and was involved in the search for the victim's body.
04:29Well, there was a story about some kids came from school, I mean, wandering the back here,
04:34and they were right over in that area there, because that's the shortest access to the blue hole.
04:39The boys clambered down through a small passageway in the rock.
04:52They swam here often, and there didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary about the water that day.
05:07But, the locals say something was waiting for them.
05:19When the ball was thrown towards the middle of the blue hole,
05:22one of the boys swam to retrieve it.
05:25Three kids left, and two come back.
05:42There was nothing for the water.
05:44Nothing.
05:45You don't find any remains.
05:47There's nothing, no clothing, nothing.
05:50And, as always goes to the folklore, that the Luska monster's taken them.
05:55So, the monster has a name.
05:57The Luska monster is a half-shark, half-octopus-type creature.
06:02So, it grabs you and pushes you into the shark mouth and eats you.
06:06So, that's quite a big creature, whatever it is, to consume an entire human being.
06:10So, do you believe that the Luska exists?
06:13I believe that there's a Luska monster in the blue hole, definitely.
06:16Something that has this amount of labyrinths.
06:19Anything could be under there.
06:21It's interesting, though, that despite this belief,
06:24it doesn't make people completely keep out of the water.
06:27They're careful, but they still go in the water.
06:29We all saw Jaws. We still go swimming, right?
06:35Peter's description of the beast known as the Luska sounds outlandish.
06:40But anything capable of suddenly dragging a person under
06:43would have to be big, fast and powerful.
06:49I have no idea what could be living in these very deep holes,
06:53and I'm not dismissing anything yet.
06:55But if I actually hooked something from this high, sharp, rocky bank,
07:00I'd never land it.
07:01And I'm told that after a number of fatalities,
07:04diving here is out of the question.
07:07So I'm taking my rod to where the interconnecting tunnels meet the sea.
07:20If there is a monster in land, it came from out here.
07:24I can see schools of agile fish darting around.
07:37I don't know what they are,
07:38but I'm reminded of schooling fish of similar size and speed.
07:43The tiger fish of southern Africa
07:45and the piranhas of South America.
07:49Many teeth can make light work of human flesh.
07:55Maybe I'm not looking for just one killer.
07:58Maybe it's a gang of flesh eaters.
08:02Right, this water here is very shallow,
08:04so I'm going to use a fly on the end,
08:06which actually is not mimicking an insect at all.
08:08It's mimicking a small fish.
08:10It's quite silvery, quite flashy.
08:12I'm going to retrieve this in fairly short, rapid jerks,
08:17about two or three foot at a time.
08:19The idea is that movement is going to register
08:21in the peripheral vision of any predator that's down there.
08:24And then, in theory, what it does, it's going to lock on.
08:27I wait for a group to approach and then cast out in front of them.
08:42Underneath these salt flats lie the tunnels
08:45that link to the inland blue holes.
08:48I want to find out what's feeding out here
08:51and potentially entering those tunnels.
08:54Sea fishing is not my area of expertise,
09:01and this landscape is like nowhere I've fished before,
09:04so I've no idea what I might find.
09:12Here we go. Fish on.
09:24I'm on the island of Andros in the Atlantic,
09:28where the locals believe a monstrous predator
09:30with a taste for human flesh
09:32is using the blue holes as hunting grounds.
09:36I'm just offshore casting into water that links to the blue hole,
09:40hoping to catch a toothy pack hunter.
09:43As it gets closer, I can see it's a bonefish.
09:53These are very streamlined, fast fish.
09:56They are in groups.
09:58I was wondering if they were pack hunters,
10:00but looking in the mouth there, there's no teeth.
10:02It's just quite rubbery lips.
10:06So what's that speed for?
10:08When they're feeding,
10:09they don't seem to be feeding on anything
10:11that is particularly fast-moving.
10:13They tend to be sort of like grubbing around in the sand.
10:16I reckon that speed could be all about getting away from something.
10:21No sooner does the thought cross my mind
10:26than the answer becomes clear.
10:28There's a shark there. Shark.
10:30A juvenile lemon shark prowling the shallows.
10:34May not be the size of a man-eater,
10:36but it's unlikely to be alone.
10:42And since the mythical Lusker
10:44is often described as being a large animal
10:46with shark-like characteristics,
10:48I need to consider the largest known predators in these waters.
10:57I'm heading north to visit a research programme
11:00that monitors the movements and behaviours
11:02of different shark species
11:04to try and find out more.
11:09The place where I'm going now
11:11is just a short hop-away,
11:13and in comparison to Andros,
11:14it's just a tiny speck of land.
11:15But what's special about South Bimini,
11:18well, people say if you want to see a lot of sharks
11:21in a short space of time,
11:22this is the place to go.
11:31It's like someone has drilled a hole down through the flats.
11:35Blue holes like this one in the seabed
11:37are said to be every bit as dangerous as the inland holes.
11:40mysterious disappearances,
11:43reports of fishermen dragged under,
11:45divers vanishing without a trace.
11:50Horrifying tales all blamed on the Lusker.
11:53But could a shark be the culprit?
11:59I meet up with shark scientist Dr. Samuel Gruber.
12:02Good morning.
12:03Well, welcome to the shark lab.
12:05Good to see you.
12:06Looks like I'm at the right place.
12:07The Bimini Shark Lab was established in the 1990s
12:11and has been a hotbed of leading research ever since.
12:16This location is known worldwide
12:18for its extraordinarily high concentration
12:21of different shark species.
12:24If there is a prolific man-eater stalking these islands,
12:27Dr. Gruber is the person to help me find it.
12:31In this region,
12:32there are stories of people disappearing in blue holes.
12:36What would be your take on that?
12:37That's not a story.
12:38That's happened.
12:39That's real.
12:40That's as real as can be.
12:41But what are we talking about here?
12:44A lot of people have been dragged down in those blue holes.
12:47They went down without wanting to go down
12:50and they couldn't get up again.
12:52From the point of view of the general public,
12:55what is, rightly or wrongly,
12:57seen as the most dangerous shark in these waters?
13:01The most dangerous shark in these waters is the tiger shark.
13:05They can get to 20 feet.
13:07That's a really, really big animal.
13:09Tiger sharks have this reputation of being
13:12sort of, you know, the garbage collectors of the sea.
13:14Is that a true characterization?
13:17It is not only a fair description, it's accurate.
13:20If you look at the stomach contents of tiger sharks,
13:23you find everything from other shark species
13:26to birds, to lobster, to conch, and they eat humans.
13:31They eat humans.
13:32They do eat humans.
13:35So there are man-eaters here.
13:37But to explain the sudden disappearances,
13:40I need to find out if the sharks are making targeted attacks
13:43or just feasting on remains.
13:45Quite beautiful.
13:46Either way, its huge size and lightning speed
13:50makes the tiger shark my main suspect so far.
13:53Dr. Gruber's team is tagging tiger sharks around South Bimini.
13:59By helping the scientists, I get a privileged chance
14:03to get up close and assess this shark's deadly potential.
14:07Okay, here we go. I'm going to put it in gear.
14:12We set a series of baited hooks,
14:14the team's usual method for catching a tiger.
14:17Sharks have been spotted inside the oceanic blue holes,
14:21so could they be using the tunnels under the island
14:24to travel inland?
14:26So that is the long line set.
14:28Now, next time I see those hooks,
14:30one or more of them could well have something else on them.
14:37But I've successfully caught big sharks before,
14:40so I'm also going to cast out a line of my own,
14:43just for good measure.
14:45The stories I've been hearing have been of people being plucked
14:49from the surface,
14:50so I'm not going to be fishing down on the bottom.
14:53I'm putting a float about five foot away from the hook.
14:57That's going to keep the bait round about
14:59where somebody's feet would be if they were treading water.
15:02I'm using wire because I'm off to something with teeth,
15:05and then a fairly meaty circle hook on the end.
15:18I don't have to wait long for a bite.
15:21Here we go.
15:23Could whatever's on my line
15:25be the key to the mystery of the Luska?
15:28It's on the surface.
15:39I'm fishing the waters surrounding the tiny island of South Bimini
15:43on the trail of a killer,
15:45a large and aggressive creature with an appetite for human flesh
15:48that the locals call the Luska.
15:51Oh, here we go.
15:55Almost immediately,
15:56I'm battling something large and powerful.
15:59This is heavy.
16:06It's on the surface.
16:07There it is.
16:10Still got strength in it.
16:12It's a reef shark.
16:18There we go.
16:29Can you see the friction burns on my thumb there?
16:31There are at least four species of reef shark,
16:35all smaller than the tiger shark.
16:37But they are sleek, muscular fish built for speed
16:40and with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.
16:43They're certainly not creatures you'd want to get on the wrong side of.
16:46Still a kick.
16:49But are they man-eaters?
16:5017?
16:5117.
16:5217, yeah.
16:53Once the team has gathered all the data,
16:54I remove the hook and release the reef shark back into the water.
16:56It's actually swung off very strongly.
16:59But the strength of that on the end of a line,
17:02well, I mean, it burnt my thumb.
17:03And I think if that was attached to your foot, for example,
17:05you'd have no say in the matter.
17:06You'd just be under the water.
17:07But what I'm wondering is whether that would actually hold on
17:08and I'd be able to do it.
17:11So, you could do it.
17:12I could do it.
17:13I could do it.
17:14I could do it.
17:15I could do it.
17:16I could do it.
17:17I could do it.
17:18I could do it.
17:19But I could do it.
17:20I could do it.
17:21I could do it.
17:22I could do it.
17:23I could do it.
17:24If that would actually hold on to your foot
17:27or whether it would just take a bite.
17:29I think the only way to establish the bigger picture,
17:31I've actually got to get in the water.
17:37I want to see how reef sharks behave
17:39when presented with larger bait
17:41and how they react to a human in the water.
17:46Soon, it's clear from the activity on the surface
17:49that they don't feed alone.
17:52The sharks are here, no doubt about that.
17:53The bait's ready.
17:55And down it goes.
18:08I carry out my final checks
18:10before following the bait cage down.
18:12Sharks all around me.
18:13All around me.
18:14Sharks all around me.
18:15Sharks all around me.
18:16Sharks all around me.
18:17Sharks all around me.
18:18Sharks all around me.
18:19Sharks all around me.
18:20Sharks all around me.
18:21Sharks all around me.
18:22Sharks all around me.
18:23Sharks all around me.
18:25Sharks all around me.
18:27Sharks all around me.
18:28Sharks all around me.
18:29Sharks all around me.
18:30Sharks all around me.
18:31Sharks all around me.
18:32Sharks all around me.
18:33Sharks all around me.
18:34Sharks all around me.
18:35Sharks all around me.
18:36Sharks all around me.
18:37Sharks all around me.
18:38Sharks all around me.
18:39Sharks all around me.
18:40Sharks all around me.
18:41So these are reef sharks, they're resident here on the reef and they're sizeable, they're good sized fish.
18:58This is quite a spectacle, lots of fish, they are very concentrated, very stirred up and excited by the smell of the bait.
19:11Caribbean reef sharks are common in these parts. They can grow up to ten feet in length and on occasion have attacked divers.
19:22They're getting very close, they're going for the bait, but they're not going for me.
19:28But only a few years ago, a diver right here had to fend off an aggressive assault from a reef shark.
19:35As their numbers increase around me, so too does their confidence.
19:39Oh, that was coming right towards me. I think it might be time for me to get out.
19:46I need to get out of this situation, but now my exit involves passing through a pack of hungry sharks.
19:54I have to try and keep calm and move slowly, because the sharks' acute senses can pick up on my heightened heart rate.
20:01And I'm already feeling pretty vulnerable.
20:05Quite a frenzy coming up.
20:07They'll be everywhere.
20:08That's pretty intense.
20:19But whether they'd actually take somebody down, I think they're capable of it, but I don't think they'd have the motivation.
20:24But in terms of actually clearing up remains down on the bottom, well, having seen the way that they were going at that bait box,
20:29absolutely no doubt that they could do that, no doubt at all.
20:34One of the key features of a Luska attack is that no remains are ever found.
20:39In a pack of reef sharks, I've certainly found a potential body disposal team, but not the assassin itself.
20:46Since last night, the team have been checking the long line, and at last, there's something on it.
20:55Could the assassin be waiting for them?
21:02There's something big on the long line.
21:04We're hoping that it's a tiger shark.
21:06And actually, I can see a long shape in the water up there.
21:11That's a very big shark.
21:13It's very hard to say how big that is.
21:18It's down several feet, but this is definitely, you know, definitely a serious-sized fish.
21:28It's on the surface, it's on the surface.
21:33It's a big tiger shark.
21:36Here we go, dorsal, got the dorsal, got the dorsal.
21:38Yeah.
21:41Many fish can be dangerous to handle, but it's a whole other level when the animal in question weighs hundreds of pounds,
21:48and has a mouth as wide as a garbage can, lined with curving, serrated teeth.
21:53Once the shark is under control, the team sets to work.
22:04About 12 foot total length.
22:06That's over twice my length.
22:08A shark of this size could easily snatch a full-grown man from the surface so a child would have no chance
22:16Tiger sharks are solitary hunters and are in the top three in terms of danger to humans along with bull sharks and great whites
22:23And that was a transmitter just going in and there are a number of receivers
22:38Around the islands here and that transmitter will speak to the receivers it will give information on where this shot goes
22:46After today, I don't think I've seen surgery like this quite before
22:53I
22:55Finally by insert an ID tag into the dorsal fin
23:05The release is an absolutely crucial time
23:09Someone must get in the water to ensure that when it's freed the shark stays upright and swims off strongly
23:16Today that someone is me
23:19The ropes are released and I take hold of the fins of a shark twice my length
23:30Have I bitten off more than I can chew
23:33What do a bag of coal a GPS device and a squid have in common the answer right after this
23:51Before the break I asked what these items have in common. They've all been found in the stomachs of tiger sharks
24:03I'm investigating the mysterious disappearance of swimmers and divers from the blue holes in and around the islands of the lucian archipelago
24:14The culprit must have been large and powerful and capable of negotiating the underwater labyrinth that connects the inland blue holes to those out at sea
24:24So far my main suspect is the largest predatory fish in these waters the tiger shark and I'm about to get up close and personal with one
24:37As soon as the oxygen-rich water flows through its gills the shark will start to revive and may lash out
24:44So I need to be extra cautious once the ropes are off
24:54It's an incredible sensation. I can feel the giant predator gaining power
25:08It's gone
25:10What a massive animal massive animal
25:23There was a moment there when I thought it was gonna turn around and take a mouthful out of me, but actually it just swam off
25:30So what does that say about tiger sharks?
25:33My close encounter with the tiger shark has given me pause for thought and
25:43Because of its sheer bulk and shape it would really struggle to maneuver in enclosed spaces
25:51So I just can't imagine it navigating the narrow twisting passageways to the inland blue holes
25:57As for the other sharks that I've observed here
26:02I don't feel that they
26:04Are behind these stories either, but the trouble is where does that leave me? What else is down there?
26:09I know that when I reach a dead end in an investigation
26:12I need to interrogate the myth further and speak to the people who live with this legend
26:19Timer is a deep-sea fisherman who claims to have seen a shark-like tentacled creature near an oceanic blue hole
26:27I'm told that one day you saw something very strange out there. What was that?
26:31We were fishing for dorado and we happened to come across this strange animal
26:38I thought it was a whale shark but getting within 50 feet of it found it was a strange animal with tentacles and the head of a shark
26:48The head is kind of similar to a mako shark has a real pain in nose
26:52And how long were the tentacles?
26:54The tentacles was the last thing we saw. The whole thing was about eight feet
26:59Yeah
27:00I mean do you think this could have been Alaska you saw even?
27:02It could have been
27:04So I'll always remember it until the day I die
27:06I remember when I was a kid having a strange picture book
27:17Where the pages were divided so you could mix different animals creating some weird and sometimes terrifying hybrids
27:25And that makes me turn my mind again to the Lusker
27:28Supposedly part shark part octopus
27:32Perhaps it's now time that I turn my attention to the octopus
27:36This feels different from any fish this is an octopus they are masters of camouflage
28:01They are shape shifters they can blend in with the background they are amazingly intelligent
28:07They're just incredible animals
28:08It's a cephalopod so it's made up of a head and a foot and confusingly the foot the bottom bit has eight arms and each one has powerful suction cups
28:19They have no skeleton external or internal but they do have a very powerful beak
28:25In the middle of all those arms
28:27When they catch their prey they deliver it to the beak and that will rip and tear the prey apart
28:34I recently saw some amateur footage from Australia perfectly illustrating what amazing and surprising hunters octopus are
28:41Not bound by the limitations of fish it leaps from the water and pursues its prey over land
28:55It's a predator playing by a different rulebook
28:58This is a juvenile caribbean reef octopus
29:07Adults can have a span of over four feet tentacle tip to tentacle tip
29:12That's unlikely to harm a human if we're to believe an octopus is somehow responsible
29:17For stories of swimmers and divers gone missing
29:20However in 2011 the remains of an octopus washed up on these shores which if complete could have spanned more than 20 feet
29:30Is this proof that giant octopus do exist here?
29:35If the Luska is a big one of these
29:38That's actually quite a terrifying prospect
29:41If this beast was scaled up to the size of the creature that's been described to me
29:45Could those tentacles pluck somebody from the surface?
29:49Well absolutely they could
29:51Could the beak
29:54Tear you apart into pieces?
29:56Again absolutely
29:58Would anything be found?
30:01Absolutely not
30:05Without a bone in its body a 50 pound octopus can squeeze through a two inch hole
30:10So it would have no problem negotiating the narrowest of tunnels under the island
30:19Octopus are incredibly intelligent and unlikely to be fooled by a bait on a hook
30:27If I'm to stand a chance of seeing one I'll have to go down into a blue hole myself
30:33Along with timers sighting I've read of two others that have occurred in or around an oceanic blue hole
30:40I
30:42Boat captains have described a huge creature briefly breaking the surface
30:50And dark shapes shifting over the reef into the ominous depths
30:59Timer has told me about the oceanic blue hole near to where he had his sighting
31:06I need to see what might be down there
31:10I have no idea what might be living in this darkness
31:29It's a dangerous deep dive
31:31With all the caverns and crevices it's very disorienting
31:37And the further I venture into the depths the harder it becomes to see the surface
31:47It's every bit the monster's lair
31:52And as the passages narrow the idea that a shark large enough to take a person could negotiate this stony honeycomb
31:59seems increasingly implausible
32:09An octopus however even a giant one would have no difficulty at all
32:15I'm at about 150 feet here
32:30It's just absolutely black down there
32:34There's no way of saying how far that goes
32:37I suppose that's what might be down there
32:40But there's no way I'm going any further to find out
32:44Time for me to head on back out I think
32:54Down at these depths even rock formations can play tricks with your mind
32:59And take on a sinister lifelike appearance
33:03I may not have seen anything big down there
33:06But I get the feeling something big might have seen me
33:17I've been jostling with the deadly predatory qualities of both sharks and octopus
33:22Pitting them against each other in my mind
33:31Now though I've been sent extraordinary footage that leaves nothing to the imagination
33:36This footage was shot at an aquarium in seattle in the pacific northwest
33:44Something was killing off their shark so they staked out the tank with a camera to record any evidence
33:52As a zoologist my natural reaction to this other than amazement is to ask if an octopus can catch and consume a shark
34:06Could a large one take down and devour a person?
34:13I've uncovered a report from a man who has no doubt about the answer based on terrifying personal experience
34:22I've got to find out
34:37I'm on a quest to unravel the mystery of the lusker
34:41Described as a hybrid creature with the ferocity of a shark and the grip of an octopus
34:47It is a strange animal with tentacles and the head of a shark
34:52It's said to have the size and power to hunt for people
34:57My investigation now centers on whether a giant octopus could potentially catch and consume a person
35:05I've seen this animal's amazing predatory behavior so I know in principle this is a possibility
35:11Now it's just a question of scale
35:14There are a hundred species of octopus and they can be found in every ocean around the world
35:24I'm taking a flight to washington state's puget sound to meet a man who had a terrifying encounter with the world's largest known species of octopus
35:33Ron alt says he's lucky to be alive
35:47I've been diving puget sound since the 80s i've encountered many different octopus
35:53But the one encounter of the biggest of my mind is I was working in northern puget sound
35:58Ron was dive fishing for sea cucumbers to sell to the fish market when he came across something far bigger and much more valuable
36:10So I was going to the bottom picking up the sea cucumbers in between two large rocks
36:17I see a huge octopus and I went five dollars a pound
36:21So I grabbed the octopus and immediately it tried to get away and next thing
36:27I realized he'd pulled me up about ten foot off the bottom, but I had still had a whole living
36:33All of a sudden the octopus arms went all the way around me and all I felt was the beak on top of my head
36:40The mass started squeezing over to one side
36:43Every suction cup that I could feel against the suit my hands
36:49My face I could not get away as far as I knew I could drown right that moment
36:54Ron continued to fight the octopus as his fishing partners pulled him to the surface by his tether rope
37:00So once you got to the surface it took three of you to get it under control
37:04It really took a long time eventually we got it up on the boat
37:08You went with three of you you were able to get it in the plastic box. Yes, we threw a lid on
37:1350 pounds of weight on top of that
37:16But the octopus actually pushed the lid up
37:22Over the side he went
37:26I've heard some stories from the Atlantic of people being plucked from the surface remains not being found
37:33Do you think that could potentially be octopus? I'm sure
37:43The more I hear about these giant octopus the more formidable they are if they are so
37:49Stealthy intelligent and powerful that they can pluck a shark from the water column and devour it
37:55Then what chances a human being got in an underwater struggle unless you're really lucky like Ron was there's only one way that's going to end
38:03The dark icy waters of puget sound are a far cry from the tropical archipelago
38:10But both places are home to a number of octopus species which share the same predatory behavior
38:18For my best chance of an octopus encounter i'm using a rebreather unit
38:24This circulates and refreshes the air i'm breathing
38:27Without the release of bubbles helping me to stalk a giant octopus without being noticed
38:37It's another very challenging dive and i struggle to adapt to the low light
38:42So something lives here for the look at this there's uh scattered shells
38:58What we've got here looks like it is an octopus den and the thing is not to be deceived by the size of the opening
39:07Suddenly i'm not sure i should be here
39:27My investigation into the legend of the lusker a deadly hybrid creature that stalks its human prey in the blue holes of the caribbean
39:35Has brought me to the pacific northwest
39:38Where finally i've identified the lair of a giant
39:45What we've got here looks like it is an octopus den and the thing is not to be deceived by the size of the opening
39:53Well this is a giant pacific octopus
40:06The largest known species of octopus and certainly the biggest octopus i've ever encountered
40:12It's not showing any signs of aggression but it is in no way intimidated by our presence
40:17Or our lights
40:18It squeezes through these tiny little gaps
40:21A creature like this would have no difficulty overcoming the rocky passageways beneath andros
40:27It seems to disappear and then reappear again
40:32Very impressive animal
40:37Incredibly the octopus that seized ron would have dwarfed this spanning between 15 and 20 feet
40:43What an encounter they grow bigger than this but this is an impressive animal
40:49And when it goes from walking to swimming this shapeshifter does indeed look somewhat shark-like
40:55Is this how the hybrid legend originated
40:58Looking right into its eyes
41:02Intelligent aggressive opportunistic and incredibly maneuverable this secretive giant is a supreme aquatic predator
41:10It really makes you think you know thinking back to the blue hole
41:15What could be lurking in those premises down there?
41:19If the blue holes of andros were indeed to harbor a giant octopus
41:23It's easy to understand how it might have remained hidden
41:27And how in the labyrinths of the human imagination this extraordinary creature could have inspired the legend of the lusker