(dramatic music)
(splashing)
- Wow.
Look at this.
(dramatic music)
- The Hawaiian islands, simply put are cinematic.
Forged from the earth by molten lava,
there are eight land masses in total.
And on this adventure, we will be exploring
on the remote island of Kauai.
A literal paradise, this diverse location
has been the backdrop for many movies and television series.
But today, it will be the backdrop for Beyond the Tide.
(splashing)
- Oh man, this is pretty epic.
- Check out the rain over there, it's goin'
into the mountains.
- Yeah, well as long as that stays that way,
I think we're good.
'Cause where we wanna head is right up here
into this rock bed and start looking for marine creatures.
Alright guys, our first Beyond the Tide episode in Hawaii.
I'm pretty excited.
- [Cameraman] Let's move.
- Under the light of day
when the tide pulls back from the shore line,
inner tidal pools can be the perfect place
to find hidden marine animals.
However under the cover of darkness,
these animals emerge from their hiding spots
to search for food,
which makes exploring tide pools at night
the perfect time to get up close and personal
with some seriously bizarre creatures.
(grunts)
(yells)
- Alright well, we have made it to the shoreline
and let's go with the path of least resistance on this one
and go this way.
That looks like a bunch of tangles of trees
and that looks like open shoreline.
Alright start movin'.
Wow look at this.
The overhanging leaves on the shoreline are pretty.
There's a crab.
(dramatic music)
Oh.
- [Mark] There it goes. - Ghost crabs.
You see how fast those were?
Look at this structure.
This is all real soft sand, you see that?
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- And then there are these different hard rock masses.
Very different from anything we've explored before.
- Is it slippy?
- This is not, that's very grippy, sand is very soft.
(splashing)
- [Mark] How deep is it out there?
- Not too deep right here, but it's warm.
It's warm water, we're used to tide pooling
in freezing cold water
so it's not gonna be too bad getting soaking we tonight.
And I think it's just a matter of time before
we find the right pools to start exploring in.
Alright let's head up.
Oh there's another crab.
Look at that, you see it?
- [Mark] Where?
- Runnin' along the edge the edge there.
Man. - Oh yeah.
- We have gotta catch one of those ghost crabs.
Alright let's just keep headin' this direction.
(dramatic music)
Wow.
Wow, wow.
- [Mark] Did you get it?
- [Coyote] Got it.
- [Mark] Alright let's go, let's go.
(dramatic music)
- [Coyote] Wow barley.
Wow okay.
- [Mark] Oh man, they're everywhere.
- They are everywhere and you can see how fast they are.
Here bring the light in.
They're called ghost crabs in my opinion,
because they are so fast,
they disappear like a ghost in the wind.
And we've seen them skiddering all over the sand
and I snuck up on that one
and actually used the same tactic I've used with frogs.
Where I keep a bright light right on it's eyes.
It kinda keeps it stunned right there in place.
And I was able to actually get my hand on it
and then it tried to pinch me.
I let go and it ran down into these rocks
and I just managed to get a hand on top of it.
- [Mark] I had a pretty good shot,
I saw you try to go for it and then it ran behind you.
- You saw that? - Yeah.
- Dude it had this zigzag move, it was like blalala,
and went right around me.
But there you have it, our first marine creature
of the night, a ghost crab.
It's interesting, he's got his eyes tucked in right now
but these eye sockets are rather pretty.
Let me see if I can get him to, put your eyes up.
Watch this.
- Look at. - Wow.
- [Coyote] See that?
Now I don't know how good their eye sight is
but they can sense light and movement certainly.
And it appears that too much light
forces it to just stay in one spot.
Wow, my hand's actually kinda shaking.
That was a tough catch.
- [Mark] What a cool crab.
- [Coyote] Right?
- [Mark] What big eyes you have?
- Yes, Mr. Crab.
What large eyes you have.
- [Mark] That's cool man.
- [Coyote] Well alright, our first marine creature
of the night, a ghost crab.
You guys wanna see how fast this little thing runs?
- [Mark] Let's see it.
- Watch this, put it right down on the sand
and it's gonna bolt into the water.
- [Mark] Wow.
(splashing)
Cool.
- Now a lot of times in tide pool episodes,
we're flipping rocks.
But look down at the ground here.
- [Mark] It's all sand.
- It's a lot of sand, and the rocks that we do have
like this are massive, and they are not exactly flippable.
So what I do have is this net.
We're gonna wade out into the shallow water
and see if we can get something inside.
You ready?
- [Mark] Let's do it.
- Alright.
- [Coyote] With our lights scanning the shallow waters,
we carefully made our way through the maze of rocks
all of a sudden, we came across our next animal.
- Got somethin' over here.
- [Mark] What do you got.
- Looks like a slug.
Oh no it's a sea cucumber.
Alright guys, follow my hand down here right into the water.
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- You see it right here?
There it is.
Alright I'm gonna pick it up really slowly, you ready?
Wow come here buddy, there we go.
Wow that is a good sized sea cucumber.
Totally stretched out I would say this.
Oh. - Wow.
- Look at it's squirting water.
That's not pee, that is excess water
from inside of it's body.
Let me turn it for you like that.
Oh it's like a tremor.
Look at that beast.
Now this is the most common sea cucumber species
here in Hawaii and one that I hoped
that we would come across.
Under water, you can see that they have
all these little bumps.
It's what makes them look like a cucumber.
And I keep saying sea cucumber
and you're probably thinking, "Well is it
"a vegetable or is it an animal?"
Mark, do you know?
- [Mark] I don't wanna eat it.
- No, well actually you can eat the sea cucumber.
- [Mark] Really?
- But the sea cucumber is not a vegetable.
It is an animal, they're actually in the same
phylum as sea urchins and sea stars.
Now let me see.
One end is the anus and one end is the mouth.
I do believe this is the anus, also known as a butt.
I think it just farted actually.
(Mark laughs) And this is the mouth.
No really I heard a (bubbling).
- Really - Yeah I heard it.
It farted on me. (Mark laughs)
Now this end here is the mouth
and these creatures are very similar
to the terrestrial earth worm,
in that they're moving along the basin of the ocean
and that they're literally eating through one end
and they feed by bringing sand into their body
and then they're absorbing all the algae
and all the decomposing plant matter
that's on the base of the ocean.
And as they're moving along, it's processing through
the length of the body and then being pooped out on this end
in these little tiny sand pebbles.
And sure enough, here's some right here.
And I'm gonna pick it up, okay?
- [Mark] That's sand.
- [Coyote] Nope, this is poop.
I'm gonna get a whole handful of it.
- [Mark] Why are you touching it?
- [Coyote] 'Cause I wanna show you guys
what sea cucumber poop looks like.
Oh man look at that, it just crumbles in my fingers.
Hold on, ah let me get a little turd here.
Very slowly.
That right there, yep that is deposited
sea cucumber droppings right there.
- [Mark] Ew.
- It just smells like sand.
And basically the sand filters through their body,
they absorb their nutrients from
the plants that are growing 'em's sand
and then they continue about their business.
Now like I said, this is the most common
sea cucumber species here in Hawaii.
There are around 50 different species
and around 12 hundred species world wide.
But the one that I'm really looking forward tonight
is the white-spotted sea cucumber.
It's very cool looking.
So we're gonna put this guy back into the water
and see if we can find one of those white-spotted ones.
- Sound good?
- [Mark] Let's do it.
- Alright.
Bye big guy, thanks for squirtin' water on me.
(dramatic music)
(splashing)
(dramatic music)
Alright guys come here and check this out.
- [Mark] What do you got?
- [Coyote] Our second cucumber species of the night.
You see right here?
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- [Coyote] I'm gonna slowly bring it off the rock.
Got a good shot?
- [Mark] Yup. Much different looking.
- That is a white-spotted.
- [Coyote and Mark] Wow.
- There goes the water excretion.
Look at it deflate just like
a water balloon with a hole in it.
Now that's the butt right there.
And that's the mouth.
Now this is the white-spotted cucumber.
Another very common species here in the Hawaiian tide pools.
Now what makes this sea cucumber very unique
is it actually has five teeth in it's butt.
- [Mark] What? What? - You heard me right.
- Why would it have teeth in it's butt?
(Mark laughs)
- Are you done?
Now these teeth are not used for feeding.
They're actually used as a defense.
Now there's a parasitic fish out here called a pearl fish
that will actually try to swim inside of it's butt
and then feast off of it's organs.
- [Mark] Ew, well I'm glad it has the teeth then,
'cause that wouldn't be very fun.
- No, things swimmin' up your butt,
eatin' your organs, not a good day.
But lets turn this little white-spotted sea cucumber
this direction and look at his face.
Hi buddy.
Kinda look like an elephant trunk don't you?
Now I love these ones
and you can clearly see where they get the name,
white-spotted cucumber.
See how it has little white spots,
little bumpy patches all over it's back.
Those do help with camouflage in the tide pool.
Now they do get quite a bit bigger than this
but any sea cucumber is a cool cucumber in my book.
(Mark laughs)
- [Mark] I see what you did there.
- Yeah, that's a little pun.
Alright well should we put this one back into the water
and see what else we can find?
- [Mark] Let's do it.
- Alright.
- [Mark] These cucumbers are everywhere.
(dramatic music)
- Give it's two feet a second to grip on there.
Here you go buddy.
Alright, let's keep movin'.
Watch out for sea urchins.
(splashing)
(dramatic music)
Wow. Look at this.
Okay it's turning into the night of the sea cucumbers.
This is not what I was expecting to find.
Hold on a second.
Can you see this right here?
That is a warty sea cucumber.
Now a lot of it's warts are gonna
disappear when I pick it up.
(dramatic music)
Look at that.
- [Mark] That is awesome.
- Wow. Oh my gosh I can feel all it's little tube feet
grippin' on to my fingers.
That is so cool.
Alright I'm gonna lift it up a little bit higher.
Very gently.
That may be the most bizarre looking marine creature.
Oh it's making a fart noise.
Hello. I know, you're right in the middle of dinner,
eating all sorts of plant matter.
Dead stuff on the bottom of the ocean.
I can't even believe what I'm holding right now.
Are you seeing this?
That thing is so bizarre looking.
- [Mark] Yeah.
A warty sea cucumber.
Just when you thought the big black sea cucumber
was bizarre, we find this thing.
I think this is the mouth, and this is the butt.
It's tough to tell on this one, but.
- [Mark] Yeah how do you tell which is which?
- Well usually the mouth will actually extend out.
I believe this is the mouth,
and they have these little tentacles that they use.
Yeah, this is the head.
Here we go look, maybe he's gonna show us his tentacles.
Are your tentacles gonna come out?
No, guess not.
But they use it like a little vacuum cleaner
like nam nam nam nam nam,
to eat up a bunch of sand they just process it
through their bodies and then what's really cool
about all sea cucumbers that I know of,
is that they actually breathe through their butts.
Can you see his butt there?
- [Mark] That's the butt?
And that's where it breathes?
- Yep, you see that?
You see there's air comin' out.
That's why I'm hearing that farting noise.
- [Mark] Oh my gosh it is.
- Right?
- [Mark] I thought you were kidding.
- Nope breathes through it's butt.
Crazy gross but crazy awesome.
Whelp there you go,
it's excreting a little bit of it's excess water.
You can see the body is deflating now at this point.
It's kinda just turning into a gelatinous mass.
This thing is crazy awesome.
Oh look at this, look at this.
- [Mark] What's happening.
- That's it's mouth, here it comes sticking it's head out.
Hey buddy.
And you can see all these little tentacles up front here.
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- They're contracted in, but when he's underwater.
Oh - Oh it's opening it's mouth.
- He's leakin' on me.
- [Mark] It's opening it's mouth.
Something's happening.
- That's it's mouth.
That's it's mouth right there, you see that?
That is crazy.
Similar to the sea slugs that we have shown you guys before.
And remember, this is not a slug.
It's related to sea stars and sea urchins.
When they're in the water,
they actually take their true form.
Watch this, I'm gonna set it back down in here.
And it's gonna go from a blob of jello
back into a sea cucumber.
Dude, this is the coolest thing I've ever.
- Look you can see it. - I've ever seen.
- See the tentacles coming out of it's face.
- [Coyote] Oh yeah, look at that, look at that.
You see all his tentacles up front there?
- [Mark] Yep, yep.
- [Coyote] That's it's mouth, look at that.
You can see all the tube feet better underwater like that.
Actually if I keep it under water like this,
look at all those tube feet on the underside.
Those are all like itty bitty suction cups
that help it to slowly move along the basin of the ocean.
- [Mark] Looks like it has a mustache.
- [Coyote] It does, it looks like a big walrus mustache.
Let me touch those.
Those are little sensory organs.
- [Mark] Now can it bite you?
- [Coyote] No, sea cucumbers do not bite.
- [Mark] Oh you can see all it's little warts
or appendages have come back.
- Oh yeah. See that?
Now it's completely taken the sea cucumber form.
Look how long this one is.
Look at it's body fully stretched out.
That is impressive.
What an amazing creature.
I'm in complete awe of this thing right now.
I'm just gonna hold it on my arm.
There we go, so cool.
I love sea cucumbers, they're becoming
my new favorite marine creature.
Fascinating, and there are around
12 hundred species worldwide, and 50 in Hawaii alone.
How cool is that?
- [Mark] Wow.
- Yeah you guys have a lot of sea cucumbers here.
We've only been exploring for what, hour and a half?
And we've come across three species already.
That's pretty awesome.
Well I would definitely say
that our first episode of beyond the tide filmed in the dark
certainly turned into the night of the sea cucumber.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave, stay wild, we'll see you on the next adventure.
Alright buddy, back off into the ocean with you.
Exploring tide pools under the darkness of night
was incredibly rewarding.
The animal activity was unlike anything
we had encountered before.
And while sea cucumbers may not be
the fastest moving creature you can come across,
I think it's safe to say that what they lack in speed,
they definitely make up for with their bizarre appearance.
Hey Coyote Pack, have you picked up your tickets
for the brave adventures tour yet?
There's only a few left, so make sure to click on this link
to reserve your seats today.
And remember, the tour is the only place
you can find one of the exclusive golden adventure tickets.
And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me and the crew
on our next big adventure.
I am so proud to have written this book
and it was inspired by a lot of
the adventures that we have had.
(howling)