- [Mark] Oh my gosh, a shark.
- Oh my gosh, a shark.
- [Mark] Get Mario.
(dramatic music)
- The southern coastline of Africa
is an intertidal ecosystem flush
with bizarre looking ocean creatures.
From buggy eyed toad fish, to slippery octopus,
these were animal oddities that I really
had to work hard to get my hands on.
Got it yes, wow what a scoop!
The crew and I spent the morning exploring isolated pockets
of water and in the process captured on camera,
one of our most epic Beyond the Tide episodes.
Oh my gosh there's an octopus, nobody move.
Do you see him?
- [Mark] Right there, right there.
There he is, you got him.
- Yes, woo, how 'bout that!
After wrapping up the scene and releasing the octopus back
into its watery abyss, we started to film
some environmental b-roll shots and happened
upon a scenario I have dreamed of
since starting this aquatic series.
- [Mark] Oh my gosh, a shark.
- Oh my gosh, a shark.
- [Mario] Okay Mario. (laughs)
I can't believe that, I'm like this is so cool,
I look over, I'm like, a shark.
- The camera team is just returning,
I think the goal here is gonna be to catch the shark,
look at it very quickly.
We definitely don't want to stress it out
or try to handle it for too long
but this is so cool, a shark in a tide pool.
Alright guys so this is super crazy.
We just got finished filming with an octopus
and there is a shark in this pocket of water.
That is a spotted gully shark.
They are bottom feeders and unlike great white sharks
or tiger sharks they only have small little blunted teeth,
so it should be okay for me to gently pick up this shark.
Are you guys ready?
- [Mark] Yep.
- I've no idea how fast it's gonna move.
I'm gonna actually not use my net and try
to grab it by the back of the tail.
They have very sandpaper like skin
so I should be able to grip on there no problem.
- [Mark] Heads up.
- Okay, I got ahold of it there, bringing it up.
Hey buddy.
Look at that!
That is the first shark we have ever caught
or featured on the Brave Wilderness channel.
What a beautiful fish.
And, the way that I can tell that this
is a spotty gully shark, see all those black spots?
Pretty obvious right?
And they usually have a very light colored belly.
They also have very distinct triangular pectoral fins,
very distinct triangular dorsal fin
and then a second fin on the rear part of its tails
that's almost as tall as the actual dorsal fin.
All right, I'm gonna dunk it back down,
it's being very calm.
That it's so cool!
The spotty gully shark is a species of hound shark
that can often be found in shallow inshore waters.
They favor sandy tide pools, such as,
the ones we have been exploring,
and occasionally find themselves marooned
when the tide drops.
When you run their fingers in one direction
across the skin it's smooth
but if you go in reverse direction it feels
just like sandpaper.
Go ahead Mar, pet the shark.
- [Mark] Smooth.
- [Coyote] Go one way.
- [Mark] Wow.
- [Coyote] Right?
- [Mark] Very rough.
- Like a fine grit sandpaper right there.
Now this shark has one, two, three, four, five gill slits.
Now when we're talking about the teeth of this creature,
it's almost like a cheese grater.
What they feed on are small crustaceans
and other animals on the basin of the ocean.
And actually, this is one of those rare occasions
where I could probably be bitten by a shark
and be just fine.
They often times will hunt in tide pools
just sifting along the bottom
for small crabs and other mollusks.
Let me dip it again.
Woo, that is so cool being able to handle a shark.
Okay buddy, there you go there you go.
At nearly three feet in length
this shark is considered a juvenile.
Yet, they can reach lengths of nearly six feet
and are primarily active at night,
feeding on crustaceans small fish,
and cephalopods, such as, octopuses.
Bring the shark back up here.
- [Mark] Man, a tide pool shark.
- So cool right?
Now, you may be saying to yourselves,
Coyote is this shark permanently marooned in this tide pool?
No, actually the tide is on its way back in right now
and once the water hits deep enough,
it will be able to move to the next pocket
or out in the ocean if it chooses to.
But, what a cool opportunity for us
to get a shark up close for the cameras.
Talk about topping off a damn tide pooling
here in South Africa.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see ya on the next adventure.
Alright buddy, let's put it back in the environment
and get some cool shots of it swimming around.
There you go.
Wow, that's awesome!
As I released the shark into a deeper pocket of water,
I could hardly believe that this
was the ultimate conclusion to our epic day of tide pool.
And as its silhouette disappeared into the current,
I watched with a childlike wonder
and a sense of gratitude for the path
that led the team and I to this moment in time,
which marked the day we finally found
and caught a tide pool shark.
Nice, down into the depths of that pool.
Wow, the first shark, on Brave Wilderness!
That was epic.
Woo, tide's comin' in, let's go guys.
Yeah, Mario.
What did ya think of that?
- [Mark] Yeah. (laughs)
- If you missed the start of
this unbelievable tide pool adventure,
make sure to go back and watch part one,
where I got my hands on one slippery octopus.
Wow that is so cool, like a big slimy bugger!
And don't forget subscribe so you can join me and the crew
on our next low tide adventure.
(howling)