Backshall's Best Shark Bites Shark Bites

Here's Backshall's Best Bites.

There he is - you've just seen him.

I won.

It's intense, isn't it?

My name's Steve Backshall.

Self-confessed shark-obsessed.

This is one of the most awesome

creatures in the sea.

With over 500 species of sharks

in our oceans,

they range from the super speedy

to the superpowered.

The sensitive,

to the sinister.

Wow! And with millions of years of

evolution behind them,

they've evolved to be some of the

most fascinating animals

on our planet.

This is one of the greatest things

I've ever seen.

There is so much more to sharks

than first meets the eye.

So I'm getting under their skin to

reveal their

startling inner secrets.

This is Shark Bites,

and these are my top ten

favourite sharks.

Kicking things off and speeding in

at ten is a shark with

some meteoric moves -

the mako shark.

It's on my list because this toothy

torpedo can clock speeds of

50km an hour, making it the

fastest shark on the planet.

I got a closer look at these

lightning-quick sharks off the coast

of San Diego

on California's Pacific coast.

As an idea of how fast they can go,

right now,

our boat's doing about 35km

an hour, while a mako does 50 and

could cruise straight past us

as if we were standing still.

Which makes them incredibly

difficult to pin down.

I think we might have something.

Just a fin came up alongside

the bait

so that you didn't see it clearly

enough to say even that

it was a shark, let alone that it

was a mako.

There was only one way to find out.

Mako shark. Coming right at him,

coming right at him.

The two of them are patrolling

around us. One second they're there,

the next second, they're gone.

They just disappear into the blue.

As the pair of them circle

around me,

I'm completely blown away by

the ease at which they explode...

..into these serious speeds.

I don't think I've ever seen

anything like it.

It just always looks like

it's on edge,

always looks like it's ready to

burst out into speed.

So what is their surprising

speed secret?

Not only are these sharks superbly

streamlined, with their cylindrical

shape tapering at both ends,

the tail's crescent-shaped,

perfect for propulsion,

and the short fins help reduce drag.

But it's inside this shark

that the magic really happens.

Most sharks are ectothermic -

that means cold-blooded.

The temperature of their blood is

the same as the water around them.

But mako sharks are endothermic -

they can generate their own heat

from within.

The warmth created in their muscles

by activities like swimming and

digesting their food can be retained

in vital areas like the eyes,

the brain, the digestive tract

and the swimming muscles.

It's a perfect predatory superpower

that's clear to see in these mighty

marine torpedoes.

And it's this ingenious internal

heating and explosive power that put

the mako on to my list

as one super speedy shark.

If there were a prize

for terrifying teeth,

my next shark would definitely

win it.

Nudging in at nine is

the ragged tooth shark,

which certainly lives up to

its name.

They can measure over three metres

in length, and spend their days

hidden away in coral caves,

or serenely surveying the seas.

So why such gnarly gnashers?

I got a closer look on

South Africa's Indian Ocean coast.

This is the time of day

that we've been waiting for.

It's dusk, the sun is just starting

to go down and this is when things

underwater get really interesting,

particularly with sharks.

A shark that during the day has been

slow-moving, passive, almost lazy,

can all of a sudden turn

into a fast,

fearsome and perhaps quite

frightening animal with one thing

on its mind - hunting.

And it wasn't long before the sun

had set and we lost

all natural light.

It's a bit spooky, really.

There!

A ragged tooth shark.

Their teeth almost seem to spill out

of their mouths.

They have nearly 100 active

needle-sharp teeth

that are angled backwards,

and these form a flawless fish trap.

Menacing, maybe, but they're

a perfect predatory tool.

And it's not just the adults that

have these fearsome fangs.

Unborn babies have them, too,

and not only that,

but they use them...on each other.

Pregnant females will only ever give

birth to a maximum of two young,

so the strongest will eat their

brothers and sisters whilst still

inside their mother's womb,

making sure that they get a chance

to survive.

And it's this shocking secret that

secures the ragged tooth shark its

place on my list, and makes it the

most sinister shark in our seas.

Eating its way into eight

is a shark with an insanely

insatiable appetite.

The tiger shark.

Often nicknamed

the dustbin of the ocean,

they've been known to swallow tin

cans, and even car number plates.

But they prefer to munch on

fast-moving fish

and armoured turtles.

I got a closer look at these stripy

sharks off the coast of the Bahamas.

Oh, my goodness.

Well, this

is why we came here to Tiger Beach.

It's a true monster

of a tiger shark.

It's one the largest

purely predatory creatures

on earth.

While I'm not on their menu,

it doesn't stop them

from being curious,

and as sharks don't have hands,

they'll investigate

with their teeth.

It's going for your fin, Si.

No, draw in your foot.

Draw in your foot, seriously.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Si, Si, Si!

This is absolute chaos.

They may be intrigued by us,

but when they really want a meal,

these hungry hunters rely on stealth

to catch their prey.

For a surprise attack,

tiger sharks use camouflage

known as countershading.

In the ocean, light from the sun

falls from above, and if you see

this shark from underneath, its

light belly blends in with the sky.

But if you look down on the shark

from above,

you see its dark upper surface

against the seabed below.

But tiger sharks also ambush

their prey at the surface,

and that's where

their stripy pattern comes in.

It mimics the movement

of light on the water,

breaking up their outline and

allowing for them to get close

enough to their prey

to launch an attack.

Almost hidden in the shallows,

tiger sharks wait

for the perfect moment to strike,

stealthily snatching

their feathery feast.

And it's this clever camouflage that

sees them devour a place on my list

as not only surprising, but as the

most ravenous shark in our seas.

Snapping in at seven is a shark

with a bucket-load of bite...

..the lemon shark.

And not only are they snappy,

these sharks are seriously smart.

Female lemon sharks will return to

exactly the same place that they

were born to give birth to

their young.

They choose to do this

in shallow water mangroves.

The twisted roots offer the babies

protection from larger predators as

they grow up.

And within this rich ecosystem

is a constant supply of food.

The youngsters spend around seven

years here before heading out to

deeper waters.

So these mangroves are vital to

their survival.

But these shark safe havens are

under threat.

They're in the exact places where

people want to build up tourism and

hotel complexes.

So if we want to protect sharks,

we must also protect their homes...

..allowing them to grow into

the awesome adults they become.

Once they're fully grown, they can

reach around three metres in length,

and it's the lemon sharks'

yellow-tinged, pitted skin

that earns them their name...

..providing the perfect camouflage

cover as they scour the sandy

seabed for stingrays,

crabs and crayfish.

But what I love is how these sharks

get a good grip on

their hidden prey.

The warm waters of the Caribbean are

a great place to find them.

Crazy as it seems,

we're getting in there.

To analyse this feisty shark's bite

in three dimensions,

we're heading in with a time slice

rig made up of 20 small cameras.

With seriously super senses,

it doesn't take them long to suss

out we have a box of fish with their

name on it.

There are sharks everywhere.

I'm getting absolutely

beaten up here.

And after a little bit

of feeding practice...

Yes, perfect.

..it's time to take a closer look

at this shark's brilliant bite.

The lemon shark's mouth is

on the underside of its head,

so in order to take a bite,

it really needs to lift its snout,

but it does have an extra adaptation

to give it a bit more reach.

In mammals like us,

the upper jaw is fused to our skull

and can't move, but in the shark's,

both the upper and lower jaw can

move freely, and lunge forward to

capture prey.

A marvellous modification

for a far-reaching bite.

And this free-moving jaw also allows

them to open

their mouths much wider,

so small prey is simply hoovered up.

So this savvy shark is one of my top

ten favourites, and the snappiest

shark in our seas.

Securing spot six is a highly

honed hunter with -

let's be honest -

a rather bizarrely shaped head.

The hammerhead shark.

Like all sharks, they have

a sixth sense of finely tuned

electroreceptors,

to detect their dinner.

But the hammerhead makes it

onto my top ten because

it is seriously supercharged.

I was lucky enough to get a closer

look at one in the warm waters of

the Bahamas.

This is one of the most awesome

creatures in the sea.

I don't believe it.

It's a great hammerhead.

You can instantly see how different

it is.

That hammer-shaped head is

absolutely incredible.

Their wide-set eyes give them

almost 360 degrees of vision,

helping them spot fast-moving prey

like fish and squid.

But it's their sensitive head that

sets them apart from other sharks.

The hammerhead's remarkable head is

kind of a bit like a metal detector.

All living things give off

an electrical field.

I am now. The shark's head is

covered in tiny electroreceptors,

which sense these electrical fields.

They're called the

ampullae of Lorenzini.

A big great hammerhead's head could

be a metre in width from eye to eye.

This gives them more space

for those ampullae

compared to other species of sharks,

making them much more accurate

at scanning the seabed for food.

Sweeping back and forth,

they search for a signal,

hunting down their prey

like a marine metal detector.

So the hammerhead secures a spot as

one of my favourite sharks because

of its sensational super senses.

No shark programme would be complete

without an appearance from the most

famous shark of all.

So, firing in at five is the mighty

great white...

..one of the greatest hunters

on the planet.

Reaching lengths of up to six metres

and weighing as much as a car,

great whites prey on fish

and marine mammals like seals.

And these colossal carnivores rule

their waters.

I was lucky enough to have the

chance to swim alongside them

in the open ocean off Guadalupe

Island near the coast of Mexico.

A lot of people might ask why I

would even consider going outside of

the cage with a great white shark,

and for me, it's very simple.

I spent a lot of my life trying to

convince people that sharks are not

the misunderstood man-eating

monsters that a lot of people think

they are, and this is kind of

the best way of proving that.

These animals have so much to fear

from us, and we have next to nothing

to fear from them.

So, it was time for me to kit up

and prove it.

So, I think it's time to head out

through the open cage door.

Out of the blue and as if from

nowhere, a shadow appeared.

Look, look at that coming

straight towards us.

This stealthy approach

is just one of the reasons

they're such awesome predators.

Another is those terrific teeth.

The jaws of the great white are

perhaps what this shark is best

known for.

And with good reason!

At any one time,

a great white may have 300

scalpel-sharp serrated teeth in its

mouth in rows. The front row is used

to capture and devour prey.

The other rows are like spares

on a conveyor belt.

When the front row falls out,

the others roll forward

to take their place.

This shark may get through 20,000

teeth in a lifetime,

ensuring they never run out

of their greatest asset.

Team those serrated teeth

with two tonnes of explosive power,

and speeds of up to 40km an hour...

..and this shark is able to drive

its prey clear out of the water.

So all of these perfect predatory

tools propel the great white onto

my top ten as one of the most

ferocious fish in our seas.

Now, nothing is more surprising than

some seriously sensational

superpowers,

and in at four is my favourite

shark superhero...

..the epaulette shark.

It's only found in the coastal

waters of Australia and New Guinea.

But unlike most sharks,

it makes its home in shallow,

tidal, coral-rich waters.

So its speckled skin helps it blend

into the background.

Essential for a little fish

that sits on the menu

of its larger neighbours.

So when they're around, the

epaulette does well to stay hidden.

But as the tide goes out, the larger

sharks are forced to deeper waters,

leaving the smaller epaulettes free

run of the rock pools left behind...

..where they search the cracks and

crevices for their preferred prey of

worms and crustaceans.

But the tide hasn't stopped, and the

epaulette is left high and dry.

In order to breathe,

all fish, including the sharks,

need to extract oxygen

from the water,

but once the epaulette is on land,

it needs to summon its superpower.

First, it slows down its heart rate,

and in turn,

slows down the transfer of blood

around the body.

Secondly, it dilates or expands

its blood vessels.

This can reduce its blood pressure

by as much as half.

And finally, and perhaps most

impressively,

it reduces friction to vital areas

of its brain.

With all these things combined,

this amazing shark can cope without

oxygen for over an hour.

And as if being a fish out of water

wasn't enough...

..this shark can walk.

Its flexible fins allow it to push

itself over the coral.

So if all else fails,

it can walk to water.

And for all of these reasons,

the epaulette shark definitely

deserves its place on my top ten,

as it's a shark with some

seriously sensational superpowers.

Thrashing in at number three is a

solitary shark that roams the vast

open ocean.

The oceanic whitetip.

Diving to depths of 1,000 metres and

travelling up to 100km each day,

they cruise the deep, desolate seas

in their search for food.

And it's their ludicrously large

fins that help them

navigate the abyss.

Let's see it in action

off Hawaii's Pacific Ocean coast.

The oceanic whitetip,

it is a deep-sea shark.

It's what's known as a pelagic fish,

one that sticks to the open ocean.

They're mostly solitary,

so incredibly difficult to find.

But after three days of searching,

we're in luck.

We have a shark.

Our first oceanic whitetip.

Finding food is tough out here.

These sharks need to make the most

of every opportunity, so they

immediately investigate us.

She seems really interested

in the cameras.

And she's just testing them out,

seeing if they might be something

that's good to eat.

So if they want to test something,

want to feel what it's like,

they have to do it with their teeth

and with their snout.

It's a feast-or-famine existence out

here, but these ocean explorers have

evolved perfectly to take on

the epic expedition while

looking for food.

Earning its name from the

distinctive white tips to its fins,

the oceanic whitetip uses these

tools to cross the great oceans.

The pectoral fins are stiff and

rigid, composed of keratin,

cartilage and muscle.

They function very much

like the wings of a plane,

preventing the shark from sinking.

The dorsal fin stabilises

the animal,

preventing it from rolling over

onto its back.

It's almost like the keel on a boat.

And the tail fin, that's very much

the engine room of this predator,

propelling it forward

to catch fast food.

Armed with these foolproof fins,

they cruise the vast open oceans,

making this a true adventurer

of the abyss.

And while these fabulous fins propel

the oceanic whitetip

onto my top ten,

they're one of the main reasons

that shark populations

are in serious trouble.

These fins, which give all sharks

their control and power,

are served as a delicacy

in some parts of the world.

In a soup.

Prepare to be shocked.

Did you know that the demand for

shark fin soup means we're losing a

staggering number of sharks

from our seas?

Around 11,000 sharks are killed

every single hour

at the hands of humans.

And many of them purely

for their fins.

But sharks, no matter their shape or

size, are an essential part of our

marine ecosystem, and having evolved

over 450 million years,

they are, in my mind, some of the

most magnificent creatures

that we have.

And getting back to my top ten, my

next shark certainly proves that.

This sleek silhouette secures

second place.

It's the thresher shark.

A fish with a fantastic physique.

Reaching up to six metres in length,

these sharks come armed with a

scythe-like tail that can be as long

as their body.

I got a closer look at them off the

islands of the Philippines in

south-east Asia.

We head for the edge of

the deep water,

a sea stack reef where thresher

sharks have been spotted before.

And it's not long till a strange

shape emerges from the dark.

Coming towards us!

No way!

Oh, my... It's a thresher shark.

This is one the greatest things

I've ever seen.

They're instantly recognisable

with their long, elegant tail,

and it's this that enables them to

be a predator of precision.

Thresher sharks feed on small,

fast fish,

but rather than chase them down,

it corrals them the same way a

cowboy would with its cattle.

When small fish feel intimidated,

they instinctively come together in

a tight group known as a bait ball.

And that's where the thresher

shark's long tail comes in.

It whips it over its head

in about a third of a second,

lashing out at the bait ball

at about 30mph.

This makes physical contact with

the fish, but also creates a

pressure wave that stuns them,

making them easy pickings

for the thresher.

And with its prey cornered,

the thresher shark moves in...

..unleashing its killer tail

to stun its supper.

And for me, that's why the thresher

shark is one of the most awesome and

most striking of all the sharks.

So what could possibly beat all of

these stunning sharks?

Choosing my all-time favourite has

not been easy.

But there's one truly gargantuan

shark that completely blows my mind

every single time.

In at number one...

is the whale shark.

Not only is it the largest shark,

but the largest fish in the world.

Reaching record lengths

of over 18 metres,

which is longer

than a double-decker bus,

they can weigh in at a mighty

30 tonnes.

Mozambique on the east coast of

Africa is a great place

to find them.

Whale shark.

Wow, look at the size of that!

Huge! Right, we're looking good.

OK, Eric. It's Steve in.

Is there anything more majestic

in the world's oceans?

He's feeding!

When it's eating like this, you can

see that this is actually a hunter.

And this shark has

a very surprising diet.

This gigantic creature consumes

tens of thousands

of tiny microscopic plankton -

minute plants and animals

that float in the water...

..but are hardly visible to the eye.

For an animal of this size,

constantly chasing shoals of feisty

fish would use far too much energy.

So instead, these colossal creatures

cruise around making the most of

this super-abundant food supply...

..with their mammoth mouths.

Whale sharks are what are known as

filter feeders.

Water passes into their enormous

mouths before heading over 20

filtering pads which separate

their plankton prey from the water.

The water continues down and out

through the gills, while the heavier

plankton concentrates into a big

ball and is swallowed down

into the stomach.

You know...

..it's such a huge creature,

it's one of the wonders of nature

that all the things it feeds

on are so tiny.

So the whale shark's

surprising diet,

mega mouth and gargantuan size

mean I had to make it

my all-time favourite,

the most colossal shark of all.

So there we have it,

my ten favourite shark bites.

Look at the size of that tail!

That is just insane!

And for me, with all of the

startling secrets they've revealed,

there's no doubt that there's

much more to sharks

than first meets the eye.

Such dramatic animals.

They've patrolled our seas

since long before the dinosaurs,

so I think it's time

we learnt not just to fear,

but to admire and respect

these lords of the sea.