- [Coyote] Alright guys, we've got an eel
in this pocket of water.
- [Mark] There it is, it's coming over around here.
- [Coyote] Got it, yes!
- [Mark] Yeah, whoo!
- [Coyote] Whoa! Oh no! No!
- [Mark] He's still out, he's still out there.
(energetic music)
- As the sun sets upon
the wild lands of Australia,
a world of elusive creatures slowly emerge from the shadows.
And while most people strive to avoid
stumbling upon situations that may involve such nightmares,
the Brave Wilderness crew is exactly the opposite.
Well guys, as you can tell from the lack of light,
it is night time, but the good news is that tonight
we're headed out to search for some epic creatures.
I've got my flashlight and this giant net.
You may be thinking to yourselves,
Coyote, are you in Costa Rica heading back out
after that giant freshwater prawn that got away from you?
No, no.
We are in Queensland, Australia and I've got one
target species in mind.
The Australian long finned eel.
Mark, hop on off that platform there and into the water.
Come on now buddy, the water's nice.
- [Mark] Oh it's cold.
- Yeah the water is cold,
but that is perfect for finding these fresh water eels,
so if you guys are ready, let's head upstream
and see if we can catch one.
(water splashing)
Alright guys we're gonna head up to the embankment
because these eels are actually
very sensitive to light and sound.
So the quieter we can be,
the better chance we have of actually finding one.
So what we wanna do is get up on the shoreline,
move slowly, and periodically peer down into the water
to see if we can find an eel.
I'll tell you what, it's gonna be a lot easier to maneuver
on land because these rocks are incredibly slippery
and the last thing we want
is for you guys to twist an ankle.
Alright follow me.
You know what I love about this,
the cooler temperature means no mosquitoes,
and actually we haven't come across
any mosquitoes yet in Australia
which has been really nice to work.
- [Mark] Uh, I've been bit a few times.
- You've been bitten?
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- Really? - Yeah.
- I have not even seen a mosquito yet.
- [Mark] Yeah but you have that thing
where mosquitoes don't bite you.
- And this is true guys, I'm not often times...
Actually I just saw a mosquito
fly right pass the lens of the camera there.
I am often times not bitten by mosquitoes
and even when I am bitten I have no reaction.
So I kind of luck out in that instance.
Mark you're usually eaten alive aren't ya?
- [Mark] Yeah, unfortunately.
- Traveling upstream under
the darkness of night was perilous
especially for a camera team.
Slippery rocks, deep drop offs, and strong currents
meant every step of the adventure,
was riddled with environmental obstacles.
The search for eels, and their cryptic nature,
is one of time and patience.
These slime covered creatures stay fairly nomadic,
especially during times of rain and rising water levels.
So finding one usually happens when you are
in the right place at exactly the right time.
Which meant that I was always ready to spring into action.
Okay can we go upstream here?
- [Mark] Yup, oh I see it, I see it, I see it.
(suspenseful music)
- Got it, it sprang right in the net!
- [Mark] Yeah!
- Look at that, whoo!
Wow, how about that for a tactic!
- [Mark] (laughing) Yeah!
- Stay completely still and let the eel swim into your net.
Wow, and that is considered a small one,
and it's about a foot and a half in length.
Okay let's bring it up to the edge of this embankment,
and take a quick look at it,
we definitely have to catch something bigger.
But any eel is worth taking a look at.
Let me see, I'm gonna just...
Whoo, it is strong, it is slippery.
Now they can give you a pretty nasty bite,
so I've gotta be careful here.
- [Mark] Oh they have teeth.
- They do have teeth.
Wow look at that, look at that.
It is just all over the place.
Let me see if I can get it with two hands here.
Come here buddy.
There's absolutely no way to hold on to this creature.
It is like a slippery water balloon.
Actually I have a pair of gloves in my pack,
let me take those out.
There is no way I can hold on to that eel.
I can't even get it out of the net.
Give me two seconds here.
Whoop, trying to get outta the net there,
I see him, getting the glove on, getting the glove on.
There we go okay.
Holding onto it with the glove is definitely much easier,
and there you have it folks.
That is the Australian long finned eel.
Look at the underside it's completely cream-colored,
and it camouflages perfectly into this environment.
There's absolutely no good way to hold onto this creature,
and honestly one that's bigger may be easier to manipulate.
- [Mark] Beautiful animal.
- Alright, well like I said guys, this is a small one,
we need to get something much larger
in front of the cameras.
Okay I'm gonna gently set it down here into the shallows.
And there it goes.
Alright guys, so far we are one for one
when it comes to catching eels.
And look at my gloves,
they are completely coated in a thick layer of mucus.
I feel like I've got ecto plasma on me
from the Ghostbusters like I've just been slimed by Slimer.
Let me wash some of this off.
I think these are gonna be the last time
these gloves are used is gonna be for this expedition.
Alright, let's keep moving.
I consider the long finned eel
to be a quintessential river monster,
and I knew that for this animal to live up to that
iconic reputation, we needed an indisputable giant.
Deeper into the night we ventured.
Flashlight beam scanning the water's surface,
as our eyes peered through the rippling current
hoping to spot the slithering shadow of a giant eel.
Alright guys we've got an eel in this pocket of water.
It is moving water now this is gonna be a difficult catch.
Are you guys hot on cameras?
- [Mark] Yes.
- Right here, right here, it's starting to round.
In this pocket man it is hard to see.
Oh this is gonna be a tough catch guys.
- [Mark] There it is, there it is, right there, right there.
- [Coyote] I see it, I see it.
It's right on the other side of this rock.
- [Mark] It's not under it.
- [Coyote] I see it, I see it.
I'm waiting for it to come back,
it's underneath these rocks.
- [Mark] Pick it up, pick it up, pick it up.
- [Coyote] Oh, I missed it, I missed it.
Where'd it go?
It's right by my foot, right by my foot.
- [Mark] There it go, pick it up.
- [Coyote] Is it going in there?
Oh I missed it!
- [Mark] No, no, no no.
Where'd he go?
- He's right in these rocks here somewhere.
He might've gone down the side of creak though, hold on.
- [Mark] I don't see it.
- Hold on, hold tight, stay in that pool, lemme look.
I don't think he came down into this pool.
Alright he's in the current, move down this way.
The dizzying search carried on for what seemed like
miles and miles of river as we continued to battle
the onslaught of environmental obstacles.
Then when it seemed as if our chances of spotting,
and catching a giant eel had disappeared into the night,
my moment of anticipated triumph
materialized from the shadows.
Right on my foot, right on my foot, hold on.
- [Mark] There it is swimming around here, come around here.
You can set it up on land.
- Got it!
- [Mark] Yeah Whoo!
- Yes, whoo!
- [Mark] (laughing) Yeah!
- Wow, up on land.
That was a dangerous maneuver, I almost slipped,
but it went right into the net!
Can you believe that!
- [Mark] Yeah let's go back here on this flat land.
- Man, that is an awesome eel! Whoa!
It is slippery guys, be careful.
- [Mark] Back here.
- Where back here? - Yeah.
- Okay, this is perfect, whoo!
Yes, we got one! Wow!
- [Mark] Priceless!
- Dude, we got one.
- [Mark] That was a long, long time coming man.
- Now, let me take my pack off for this.
Ha-ho buddy! Wow!
That is a three hour expedition, turned in with success.
Let me introduce you to the Australian long finned eel.
There it is, come here buddy.
Incredibly difficult to hold onto, whoa!
Oh no! - Oh oh oh oh!
Did you get it?
- He got away, there he is.
(water splashing)
No!
- [Mark] Be careful.
- He's still up, he's still up.
(water splashing)
- Yes, yes, redemption, redemption!
You guys might remember the time
that the giant fresh water prawn slipped from my hands
and got back into the river,
not happening tonight with the giant long finned eel.
Okay let's back up a little bit further away from the water.
Clearly they are too slippery to hold.
- [Mark] Gonna be okay?
- Yeah, whoo!
Okay, I promised it was gonna be exciting.
- [Mark] I was just about to say man
I had a flashback to the prawn.
- Oh it's getting away again, it's getting away again, no.
Hold on I gotta get it in the net.
- [Mark] Put it in that net.
Just, why don't you just pick that up,
pick that whole thing up.
Rinse it off, rinse it off.
- Okay, time out, time out.
- [Mark] Keep it up, no need to put it down.
- This isn't funny anymore!
- [Mark] It's pretty funny actually. (laughs)
Alright, let's back all the way back.
- All the way back! - Yeah.
Hey just to be clear,
these eels can be on land for quite awhile.
- Yes.
Alright let's crouch down
and get this under control finally.
I'm gonna keep the net upright like this.
Now fear not, these eels can stay out of water
for a substantial amount of time,
in fact, hours upon hours because if they become stranded
in a pocket and they want to move to a body of larger water
they can actually crawl over land.
And as you saw, he shot up out of the river
onto land to make an escape.
They are extremely quick.
Okay, I need to rethink this situation
so that I can actually get it out of the net
and then you guys can see it.
Alright look it's staying still now.
I'm gonna gently set that down.
(sighs) Okay I do wanna get it up out of the net
so you guys can get a good look at it.
I'm trying to just let it get acclimated and get calm.
And actually one thing we can look at first
without me actually picking it up,
is where it gets it's name.
The Australian long finned eel.
Look at this dorsal fin that runs along
the length of its body.
I'm gonna very gently, Mario you got an okay shot there?
I'm gonna gently just sort of peel that fin up.
Can you see that?
- [Man] Oh Yeah.
- That is where the name long finned eel comes from.
Now there is a short finned eel also here in Australia,
they are quite a bit smaller that this variety,
and it is that long dorsal fin
that easily distinguishes it from a short finned variety.
Now these creatures are most active at night.
Out right now hunting, and they are veracious predators.
Alright, come here buddy, let me hold you up just a bit.
I'm a try to get a good hold on it there.
All muscle, very powerful,
and what they're feasting on is small fish invertebrates,
they will even take things like frogs and snakes
if they can catch them.
And an eel of this size is about halfway
to what they can ultimately turn into.
And at a maximum length they can reach close to
10 feet in length and weight about 50 pounds.
Now here's something really interesting about
the life cycle of this animal.
It's almost opposite that of a salmon.
So you know the salmon swim out of the ocean,
and up river to do their spawning,
these creatures actually swim out of the rivers and creaks
and back into the ocean where they do their breeding.
Now once they have breed, and the smaller ones are born,
they are actually called elvers,
yeah kind of like an elf, an elver,
will then swim back into the creek system
where they'll spend several years growing
to about this size.
And like I said this is about medium.
They can grow to be about
six feet length in the river system
and it's really the ones that become
around in pockets of water
that they can't escape from
they grow to that maximum length
of around 10 feet and 50 pounds, wow.
- [Mark] That's a very healthy eel.
- That is a very healthy eel,
and you can see there are two little sensory organs
right on the front of it's face there,
almost look like the barbells on the front of a catfish,
and they use that to sense their environment vibrations
beneath the water surface,
and that helps them detect their prey.
Now they have the opportunity to be ambush predators,
or nomadic predators.
An ambush predator is something that waits
for it's prey to come to it,
but based on the strength and speed of this creature,
they can easily chase after something like
a fresh water prawn or a fish.
You'll notice that coloration,
that speckling green and black,
drab olive allows it to stay perfectly camouflaged
within the shadows of the algae
and amongst the rock structures here in the river.
Oh yeah you trying to make a run for it, wow!
And it is taking all of my strength right now
to hold this eel still.
Wow, it is so powerful.
You see that twisting movement it's making there?
It's just trying to get itself out of my hands
and back into the river.
Whoo, alright let's sit it down
in the net there for a second.
Oh, look at all that mucus coating my gloves.
Now you get a good shot of the tail there?
It's like a big boar, and that's what allows these creatures
to quickly propel their bodies forward in the water.
Make them move downstream or upstream,
and they can perfectly maneuver their bodies,
manipulate them around the rocks, to fit in small crevices.
And like I said earlier,
up underneath embankments and underneath flat rocks
is where they will hide during the day.
Again this is primarily a nocturnal creature,
and sure enough it took us being out here for three hours
before we finally came across one that was a decent size
to get in front of the cameras.
Wow, a little bit of patience,
and a lot of persistence, but it finally paid off
as we got the Australian long finned eel
up close for the cameras and what a catch that was.
An initial catch, it got out of the net,
and then I got it a second time,
redemption has been had for the giant freshwater prawn.
Guys this may have been one of the most
epic catches we have ever had.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright buddy, now we can get you back into the river.
Great triumphs often come as a result
of unwavering determination.
And when I finally managed to get the long finned eel
in front of the cameras,
without it slipping through my fingers,
I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment.
In the end, as I gently submerged this river monster
back into the murky water, and watched as it disappeared
into the night, I was truly grateful for the journey
we had embarked upon and the reward that became this episode
on the Brave Wilderness Channel.
If you thought my acrobatics
to catch an eel were entertaining,
Make sure you go back and watch the famous episode
about the giant prawn that slipped right through my fingers.
And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me and the crew,
on this season of breaking trail.
- Did you just?
- [Coyote] That did not just happen.