- [Coyote] Let me scan a little bit better here.
Keep the light right on the leaves there.
(mumbling) (yelling)
Oh, yep, I got something!
- [Camera Man] Oh, I see it, it's huge!
(dramatic music)
- [Coyote] From a bird's-eye view,
the rainforests of Costa Rica
appear to be nothing more than dense jungles.
However, as you venture down through the towering trees
and into the endless valleys, you find an intricate maze
of rivers and streams.
- We are forging our way up this water stream right now.
Had a lot of rain push though,
that's why you have so much water moving through.
It's loud.
Right now, it's not raining, so probably a good time
to start looking for some creatures.
What do you think?
- Yeah, man, it's intense but it's really nice.
It's like primeval.
- [Coyote] Yeah.
- [Mario] Like Jurassic Park.
- Nothing like moving camera equipment
through the rainforest.
All right, let's find some drier ground.
On the Pacific side of the country,
these freshwater systems appear to be
void of life under the light of day.
But as the sun disappears,
and night sets in,
there is a bizarre-looking creature
that emerges from the shadows,
armed with razor-sharp pinchers.
Tonight, we are searching for
the giant freshwater prawn.
(dramatic music)
(yelling) Yep, I got something!
- [Camera Man] So what are you looking for, Coyote?
- I'm actually looking for eye shine.
Similar to spiders or frogs,
the eyes of these prawns will reflect my flashlight beam.
And that will help us locate and, ultimately, catch one.
These arthropods go through three distinct life cycles,
and as they evolve in size,
the color of their claws also changes.
From clear, to orange, to blue.
My goal is to show you all three of these stages,
beginning with the clear claw.
There's one, right there.
That's a clear claw.
See it?
Right on the back side of that rock.
- [Camera Man] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [Coyote] Now I wanna see if I can spook him backwards.
No no no no, don't go over there.
Oh, you went under that rock.
(dramatic music)
I got him, I got him!
Yes, I got him!
I've got a stick too, but I also got it!
- [Camera Man] No way!
- That's the tactic right there.
Oh, don't pinch me!
Ow ow ow ow!
Woo!
There you have it.
Our first catch of the night.
Woah, strong for a little guy.
Now, woah, okay, I see ya.
Let me kinda turn him here towards you
without taking a pinch.
Okay, look at that claw.
You see?
It's almost translucent.
That's why they call these ones clear claws.
But you can see, near the joints,
they're starting to change color
towards a reddish orange.
You're not gonna believe how big the blue claws are
when we find one, so just remember the size of this
as compared to both the orange claw and the blue claw.
But that is a great first catch.
- [Camera Man] Be honest,
that was a little bit of a blind catch.
- It was, because there was a rock there,
but I feel this is a great start to the night.
We've got the clear claw, now it's time
to move up the ladder to the orange claw.
All right, let's get it back into the creek.
My first catch of the night was a success.
There he goes.
Now it was time to find the second stage
in this animal's life cycle, the orange claw.
However, catching one of these medium-sized prawns
wasn't going to be simple as they have
successfully avoided predators night after night,
allowing them to reach this stage and size.
Okay, so we've found our first good, deep, pocket of water
and I have spotted what I believe to be an orange claw,
which is the medium-sized shrimp.
(dramatic music)
Got him, yes! - Great catch.
- Woo!
Yep, that is an orange claw.
Hold on a second, woah, he's trying to get outta there.
Come here, you.
I'm going to...
Wow, it is really, really strong.
Now this is what's considered medium-sized
freshwater prawn.
- [Camera Man] That's a medium?
- That is a medium, that is an orange claw.
Woo, look at it flicking its tail.
Look at the orange-ish coloration
on the front of this creature, right?
That's what defines this as an orange claw.
All right, I'm gonna gently hold up this claw
and try to not get pinched.
Look at that.
Look at the hooks on the end of that claw.
That means serious business right there.
All right, well, I don't wanna keep
this one out of the water too long.
The orange claw is the middle-of-the-road size
for the freshwater prawn.
But what we're really after is the blue claw.
You guys think we're gonna catch one?
- [Camera Man] I hope so, man, if they're bigger than that,
that's gonna be really crazy.
- Oh, we find a blue claw, trust me,
it's gonna know your claws off.
All right, let's put this guy back.
(mumbling) (yelling)
Oh!
Ah!
I guess that's one way to say goodbye!
Oh, he just pinched right into me.
Okay, you can go now, goodbye!
Well if an orange claw can pop a hole in my finger,
I don't know if I wanna know what the blue claw's gonna do.
All right, let me grab the net,
let's head up creek and see if we can find a bigger one.
Our search into the night continued.
And with both the clear claw and an orange claw caught,
filmed, and released back into the wild,
there was only one stage left
to get in front of the cameras,
the elusive blue claw.
The only problem was that the deeper into the rainforest
we traveled, the more difficult the environment became.
Okay, we have made it to the top of this very slippery,
very dangerous rocky outcrop that goes down
into a very deep pocket of water.
And There is a good chance this could be a spot
to find one of these freshwater prawns.
But before I bring the entire camera team down there,
I'm gonna go down myself and scout it out, okay?
- [Camera Man] All right.
- All right, you guys stay here and be careful,
these rocks are extremely slippery.
(water rushing)
- [Camera Man] Ready to go down there, Mario?
- Heh, slip and slide. - Yeah.
- Well, Coyote basically just slid down
this entire rock face, I'd say it's about
75 feet down to a large pool at the bottom
and he's looking around right now.
And if he finds something, that means, Mario,
you and I are gonna be going down there, man.
- What? - Yeah.
- Down there? - Yeah.
Hope you keep your camera dry, man,
it's gonna be a wet and wild ride to the bottom.
(yelling)
- [Mario] What?
What'd he say? - You got one?
Oh boy.
Is there?
Should we come down?
Yeah, I'm rolling.
- [Mario] What happened, what happened?
- He found a huge one, apparently.
- Uh-oh. - Careful.
- Okay definitely saw the largest prawn I've seen all night.
There's a deep pocket down there,
enormous eyeballs shining from underneath this yellow leaf.
It tucked back under, I can't tell if it's an orange
or a blue claw, but I think we gotta go for this, guys.
- So we're headed down there? - Yes.
If you guys are ready, let's go,
I think we're gonna catch this one.
Just be really careful, it's super slick.
When you get to here, hand me the camera.
Got it, got it, got it.
All right, the pocket of water's just in front of us.
Let's see if we can catch this giant prawn.
Maybe we are just gonna get really, really lucky here.
(dramatic music)
(mumbling) (yelling)
Yep, I got something!
- [Camera Man] Oh I see it!
Oh my gosh, it's huge! - Wow!
Woah, my thumb!
Ow!
Ah, yeah.
Popped a hole in my thumb,
that's why you don't just grab the net.
I think we have got ourselves a blue claw,
ladies and gentlemen. - Let's back up a little bit.
- Yep, it is definitely in there.
Yowzer, that hurt my thumb!
You can see why it put a hole in my thumb.
(laughing)
Oh my goodness.
Now, I'm just gonna let it hold onto the net for a second,
let's zoom in on the eyes there,
those are compound eyes and they refract
the light from the flashlight beam,
and that was a complete, blind swoop of the net.
As we came up, I saw large eyes reflecting
and I said, it could be a blue claw.
Now, look a the coloration of these claws.
You see the blue in here.
And I guess, it's not super blue, but it is dark.
This is definitely a considerable size,
they do get bigger than this, let me see if I can
get it to let go here.
You gonna let go of the net?
Oh my gosh, my hand is shaking right now.
Can you believe the size of this thing?
- [Camera Man] Oh my goodness.
- We have been searching all night
for one of these creatures and finally
managed to net one in this deep pocket of water.
- [Camera Man] I think you're gonna have to let it down.
- Let me dip it in the water real quick
to get it off of the net.
(dramatic music)
- [Camera Man] Don't lose it.
- I won't, I got a good hold on it.
Wow, it is locked onto the net though.
You know what I'm gonna do?
No, no no no!
Get the light over here, light light light!
Oh no! - Did you lose it?
- No!
(dramatic music)
- [Camera Man] No way.
- That did not just happen.
That did not just happen.
- [Camera Man] What happened,
it just slipped out of your hands?
(dramatic music)
Did you let go of it?
- The net, because it kind of came apart
when I caught it originally,
it was kinked on the side and it shot
out of the side of my hand and just
completely just slipped out of my hand.
I don't even know if we, did we get a scene there?
- I don't know.
I know it was huge, the whole time I was like, woah!
- Well, we got a few shots.
I mean, I guess we can keep looking,
I don't think we're gonna find another one that big.
I cannot believe that that thing just got away.
- Here, just look around,
try to take some searches in there.
- There is no way.
I can't see anything in here now.
This pocket of water is not that big.
But I'm telling you,
I bet he went back up into these crevices here
underneath the rocks.
This is all a bunch of cavities here,
especially under this big one.
I bet you it bolted straight,
straight up into there.
- [Camera Man] I think we gotta call it,
I think that Prawn is halfway to Panama by now, man.
(groaning)
- You're right.
The water is so murky now, I can't see anything.
I cannot believe that that giant slipped through my fingers.
It's okay though, you guys did get to see it.
- They exist. - They exist!
The giant freshwater prawn does exist
and we saw the hierarchy structure
from clear claw to orange claw
and then that massive blue claw.
But at least we got it up close for the cameras,
just for a brief second.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave,
stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Ah, that was frustrating!
If you thought the giant freshwater prawn
was an incredible catch,
make sure to go back and check out the time
I managed to finally get the smoky jungle frog
up close for the cameras.
And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(dramatic music)
(animal calls)