8 Stunning Images From ‘Planet Earth: Blue Planet II’
Planet Earth: Blue Planet II gives you an in-depth glimpse into our oceans’ vibrant waters, and their variety of life and extraordinary beauty.
Episode 1: The Ocean
Two male Kobudai fish fight in the abyss of Japan. If a female Kobudai fish reaches a certain size and age, she can transform into a male Kobudai fish. After a change takes place, the new male challenges other males for the right to mate with females.
Episode 2: The Deep
Also known as one of Midnight Zone’s most successful predators, the fangtooth has the largest teeth relative to its body size of any fish in the ocean. The fangtooth have small eyes high on their heads that can vary from dark brown to black. It contains pressure-sensitive canals in its head and along its body to detect movement in the dark world in which it lives.
Episode 3: Coral Reefs
Off the island of Sipadan, Borneo, Malaysia, an endangered green turtle comes to feed in the tropical waters. As an adult, the green turtle is the only strict herbivore of any sea turtle in the ocean, using its jaws to help tear apart sea grass and algae to eat.
Episode 4: Big Blue
A sperm whale glides through the Indian Ocean with a passenger attached. Sperm whales often carry remoras-a type of suckerfish that attach to the whale with the suction plate at the top of their head.
Episode 5: Green Seas
Purple urchins cluster together in kelp forests off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. Rocky shorelines, coral reefs in warm climates or the bottom of the ocean floor are most commonly where sea urchins reside.
Episode 6: Coasts
On Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, Orche seastars are the main predators of limpets, also known as snails, in rock pools.
Episode 7: Our Blue Planet
In the Galapagos Islands, scientist Jonathan Green uses lasers to measure a 12-meter long, 20-ton whale shark, estimated to be the largest fish in the ocean. Green attempts to uncover why large pregnant females arrive there each year. Over 100 million sharks are killed every year for their fins, so it is essential to understand migrations for the future of the shark population.
Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, premiering this month on BBC America, dives into the astounding world of our planet’s oceans, and is a follow-up to the 2001 series The Blue Planet.
The visually sumptuous series was shot over a period of four years, with teams exploring and filming within every ocean across every continent. The massive project involved 125 expeditions that spanned across 39 countries and produced more then 6,000 hours of underwater dive footage. This series presents an enchanting glimpse into the azure waters of our stunning planet.
Naturalist Sir David Attenborough narrates the series, which boasts a music score composed by Hans Zimmer. The series premiere will simulcast across all AMC Networks, including AMC, BBC America, IFC, WE tv and Sundance TV.
Here, TV Insider shares a peek into the groundbreaking series with an image from each episode. Click through the gallery above!
Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, Saturdays beginning Jan. 20 at 9/8c, BBC America (the first episode on Jan. 20 airs across all the AMC networks, with subsequent episodes only on BBC America)
