(dramatic music)
- [Coyote] The Pacific Ocean
is home to thousands of animals.
Many of which none of us will actually
ever encounter in the wild.
So in order to see the wonderful world
of ocean creatures that is out there,
we as humans need to go beyond the tide,
and actually beneath the surface
to get up close and personal.
Today we will be diving off the coast of Kauai,
one of the most iconic landmasses
in the Hawaiian island chain.
- I got some news for ya, Mark.
- [Mark] What's that?
- I saw some frog fish yesterday.
- [Mark] What?
And you didn't tell me?
- Well we had the crown of thorns already
and I didn't wanna stop what we were doing,
but I think we can catch one.
- [Mark] How can we catch a fish?
- Well, they're very lumbering.
They're what I would consider a lumbering fish species.
And I think if we use that same bucket
that we had in the crown of thorns episode,
we put it in front of it
and gently coax it into the bucket,
we can get it up on shore,
place it into an aquarium,
and get up close with the cameras.
What do ya think?
- [Mark] Hey, if it involves a frog fish, I'm in.
Let's do it.
- Dude!
We're catchin' frog fish.
- [Mark] Alright.
- Alright, lets go!
- In our previous dives at this location
we witnessed an incredibly bio-diverse ecosystem
where we encountered everything from sea cucumbers
to sea turtles.
- A giant male, saw the male and female
right next to each other.
The males over here at the rocks feeding right now.
- [Mark] There he is.
- [Coyote] Can you see him?
- [Mark] Yeah.
- [Coyote] Our target species today will be the frogfish.
A bizarre looking, alien-like creature
that is known for being a master of camouflage.
So finding one, let alone safely catching it in a bucket,
is going to be a serious challenge.
Dive safety is imperative.
So once again, we will be working alongside TBI experts,
Mike Hannah and Brian O'Hara.
With our regulators in place, we deflated our BCD's
and began our descent down towards the ocean floor.
As you drop, the water embraces your body.
And as you peer through your dive-mask,
the great blue world around you comes into focus.
Fish school by the thousands
with all their brilliant colors and varying sizes.
Spiny sea-urchins lace the rocks like underwater landmines.
If you are lucky a giant green sea-turtle
may even flipper by to say hello.
Searching for frogfish however,
is a completely different challenge.
As their obscure body shapes directly mirror
the surrounding rocks and coral structures,
making them almost invisible to the eyes
of any passable predator or general admirer.
With Mike and Brian leading us deeper into the unknown,
we continued our search.
My dive fins gracefully propelled me forward
as I carefully scanned the environment.
And while the underwater world of the Pacific Ocean
is beautiful, its also disorienting.
In a way it feels as if you were on a completely
different planet with its bizarre looking plants and rocks.
Even the coral, which is actually an animal,
looks like something out of a science-fiction novel.
With the amazing scenery, and plethora of animal life
surrounding me, it wasn't difficult to get lost
in a dreamlike trance that the ocean instills upon you.
Then suddenly, I was shaken back into reality.
As Mike signaled that he had spotted our target,
the one and only frogfish.
I gently drifted into position, as Mark readied the camera.
We were going to have one shot at this catch
because while these fish may appear slow and sluggish,
they are capable of amazing bursts of speed
and can disappear in the blink of an eye.
With the mouth of the bucket open,
I lightly tickled the fish's tail-fin coaxing it forward.
Come on, so close.
And then right before our very eyes, whoosh!
The bizarre looking creature swam right inside
and I closed the lid.
Alright, we got one!
This was absolutely amazing
and just when we thought it couldn't get any better
Brian located a second frogfish.
Using the same method,
I gently coaxed it into the other bucket.
We're in business.
Time to head to the surface for the presentation.
Whooh, two, two.
Whooh, alright guys!
Well we have returned with not one,
but two enormous frogfish.
Those buckets get heavy in a hurry.
- Geez, that bucket's heavy.
- Look at that beast, he's huge.
That is a giant frogfish.
Frogfish number one, that's the first one we caught.
And that right there, is the second one.
Its a little bit smaller, but its perfectly camoflaged.
How cool is that.
- [Mark] What a cool, cool fish, man!
- Okay, lets get these buckets into a controlled situation
and get both of the fish into an aquarium.
Take a better look, yeah.
Awesome.
Wow, I hope you guys are ready for this.
Here comes the frogfish.
Alright, I'm gonna very, very gently pick it up here.
Very gentle.
Wow, its not slimy like a normal fish,
its actually very rough.
Okay, gently set it into the aquarium.
Bubble of air there.
Let it sink down.
Wow, have you ever seen a fish this bizarre?
Now Mark, I know this is your favorite fish species,
so how excited are you right now?
- [Mark] I'm over the moon right now.
Since I was a kid, I've been obsessed with frogfish.
That is such a cool fish.
- [Coyote] I love the eye.
Zoom in on its eye.
Its so angry looking.
- [Mark] It looks like a snapping turtle eye.
- It does kinda look like a snapping turtle eye.
This is just such a cool predator.
And all those fins, all in different shapes.
Now, the pelvic fins are used to keep it in position
on a head of coral.
However, they're also used, and this is where they get
the name frogfish, they actually kind of walk
or slowly hop along the ocean floor.
And I love watching it use its pelvic fins there
to move itself around the tank.
You can see that's how it balances itself
and what its looking for right now is any sort of stronghold
to get itself locked in position.
- [Mark] It almost looks like it has hands.
- The webbed fins almost kind of look like suction cups
the way that they grab onto things.
And notice how distinct looking this fish is.
It looks just like coral.
That camouflage pattern allows it to stay hidden.
Now of course that keeps it camouflaged
from potential predators but more importantly,
its camouflage is what it relies on
to be such an aggressive ambush predator.
Now this animal is a voracious carnivore,
which means that they will eat anything
that comes across their path.
They're ambush hunters right.
So they'll sit there, lie in wait
for an unsuspecting prey item to come across their mouth.
In less than six milliseconds, it can gobble down
anything that gets in front of it.
Their mouths can actually open 12 times the size
of what you see on the front of their face.
And they can swallow food almost as large as they are.
Now if waiting for your food to come along doesn't work.
They also have another tactic for catching a meal.
They have three distinct spines on their dorsal ridge
and the one upfront is actually used as a lure
to draw in fish, or small shrimp, anything that comes
in front of the animal is fair game.
That lure itself looks like a small fish or a shrimp
and it allows other fish to think,
ooh this might be something for me to eat,
when in turn they become the ones that are eaten.
Now there's several different varieties of frogfish.
This one is a painted frogfish and the way
that I know that is you can see what looks like eye-spots
on the fins there, right.
See that on the back dorsal fin?
Pretty cool looking isn't it?
- [Mark] Whoa, what did I see on its fin there?
- [Coyote] Where?
- [Mark] Oh I see that, its kinda like an octopus vent.
- [Coyote] Yeah, you see that.
That's located on the back of the pelvic fins there
and they can actually force water through those openings
to give themselves a jet propulsion of speed if they
need to quickly get away.
Now similar to a frog, you know when a frog jumps
off an embankment into the water, it goes choo, choo
and darts around to try to hide.
This fish can also manoeuvre itself very quickly
and then stop and be completely camouflaged.
And oftentimes that will help it stay hidden from predators.
Not only does that jet propulsion push it forward,
but it also kicks up sand and sediment on the basin
of the ocean kind of throwing that
into a potential predators eyes.
- [Mark] Now these aren't fast fish.
- Not particularly fast, they can be fast in the instance
they need to be, but for the most part I would consider
them to be a lumbering fish species.
They want to move more slowly than anything.
And again, keep in mind, to be an ambush predator
slower movements mean a greater potential at catching food.
- [Mark] So its safe to say this fish
isn't trying to stand out.
- No this fish is trying to blend in at all costs.
His entire life relies on being camouflaged.
- [Mark] I've always wondered, Coyote, like tell me
what the frogfish feels like.
Cause I've only seen them in aquariums
and they kind of look like they would be velvety.
- Velvety is a great way to put it.
But a little rougher, like a very, very fine sandpaper.
Almost the way that shark skin feels.
They are not slimy at all, like a normal fish.
So if I gently pick it up and I'm just going to do it
for a very brief second.
Trying to show you its face here.
Want to be as gentle as we can.
See that, see that big mouth up front.
- [Mark] Look at that mug!
- See that position there, where they just push
the fins out to the side, stay locked in place.
- [Mark] Oh, there we go.
- Jet propulsion water coming out.
We want to keep it in the water as much as we can.
This fish needs to stay hydrated, and obviously
its breathing through its gills.
One thing you may notice is that this fish
does not have any scales.
That's what makes it very distinct
amongst many other fish species.
Now here's something that's really, really cool.
This fish is capable of changing colors.
It takes a couple of weeks.
But if it moves from one environment to another under water,
lets say for a while its on a coral reef and then
it goes down onto a sandy area with some small rocks.
In a matter of time, about two weeks, they can actually
change the color pigmentation of their skin to perfectly
camouflage into their new environment.
- [Mark] Really?
I mean these come in a variety of colors.
- They pretty much cover the entire spectrum of colors.
And its all based on the environment that they live in.
Talk about a perfectly adapted creature.
Alright, so what I want to do now,
because this frogfish is amazing.
Believe it or not, we caught a more bizarre looking
and even bigger frogfish.
Are you guys ready to see that?
- [Mark] I think we're ready.
- Alright lets get this one back into the bucket
and bring in the giant.
- [Mark] Wait, before we put this away can we name it?
Can we give it a name?
- Sure, how about Freddy, Freddy the frogfish.
- [Mark] Alright, I like it.
- Alright Freddy, gonna put you back in your bucket okay.
Alright I'm going to bring the giant out.
Wait until you guys see how bizarre
and distinct-looking this frogfish is.
Now this is the Commerson's frogfish.
Also known as the giant frogfish.
And we're only going to have a few minutes to film with it.
He's very big.
Alright, come here buddy.
My goodness.
I'm going to quickly put him into the tank right.
Look at that beast.
Just let him sink down to the bottom.
Now the reason we really want to get this one
up close to the cameras is look how much this animal
looks like a head of coral.
It even has little tubulars growing off of its skin.
Its crazy, its perfectly camouflaged.
Almost impossible to see when this
is beneath the ocean surface.
Frogfish are incredibly difficult to identify.
Now the smaller one we had out we do know was
a painted frogfish.
This one, based on its size, I'm guessing
is a Commerson's, also known as the giant frogfish.
But it does seem to have some distinct markings
that make it look like a painted frogfish.
But you can tell from all the camouflage that's on its body
it looks nothing like the other one.
I'd say that frogfish are one of the most difficult species
to properly identify.
Now their little lure is usually retracted unless
they are hunting, but I can actually see where it is.
Right down there, you just got to see it floating.
Its tucked back.
- [Mark] So Coyote, compared to all the frogfish we saw,
how much bigger is this one?
- Massive, I mean easily twice the size of the one
we looked at earlier and all the smaller ones
we saw underwater were very, very small.
This thing is truly a giant.
Whooh, I love this guy.
Kind of reminds me a little bit of a horn lizard, the way
that they perfectly camouflage into their environment.
- [Mark] You see the pads on the pectoral fins?
It almost looks like they have pads, like feet.
- Let me feel those.
Oh, they are, they're a little grippy.
Almost like the toes of a newt.
Oh I know buddy, he says no don't touch my fin pads!
Well guys, I think its definitely safe to say
that the frogfish is one of the most bizarre creatures
we have ever featured on Beyond the Tide.
But before we go, Mark!
Dude, its your favorite fish, you have to pet the frogfish.
Go ahead, put your hand in there.
- [Mark] Oh man, I've waited a long time to do this.
- [Coyote] Just like sandpaper.
- [Mark] Whoa, almost like an elephant or like a shark.
- Don't let him bite ya.
- [Mark] Whoa, that is awesome, so cool man.
I can't believe this, I'm in awe right now.
- Pretty special day huh?
Well it is definitely time to get this fish back off
into the ocean.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild!
We'll see you on the next adventure.
With the sun sinking low on the horizon we dropped below
the surface and carefully released
the frogfish back into their territory.
For me, scuba diving has quickly become a new found passion
and an incredible way to explore a world I only ever read
about in books or watched in documentaries.
The time I spent diving off the coast of Kauai
was just the start and I can say with certainty,
we're just getting started when it comes
to going beyond the tide.
If you thought the frogfish was fascinating.
Make sure to go back and watch the episode
where we got the crown of thorns up close for the cameras.
Yikes, watch out for those spikes.
And don't forget subscribe so you can join me
and the crew on our next big adventure.