Oceanic Whitetip Shark Shark Bites

My name's Steve Backshall.

Self-confessed shark obsessed.

This is Shark Bites.

This time, we meet an adventurer of the abyss - the oceanic whitetip.

True to their name, they roam the vast open ocean.

Reaching over 3.5 metres,

these solitary sharks cruise the deep desolate seas,

searching for food, diving to depths of 1,000 metres

and travelling up to 100km each day.

So in this vast waterworld,

how do these apex predators even find their food?

Hawaii's Pacific Ocean coast is where these sharks

come into their own.

The oceanic whitetip 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 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, if they want to feel what it's like,

they have to do it with their teeth and with their snout.

They're largely solitary but will come together

if there's a good opportunity to feed.

Two! There's two of them!

It's a feast or famine existence out here,

but these ocean explorers have evolved perfectly to

take on their 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 foolproof fins,

they even cruise the abyss with bigger predators.

Pilot whales dive over a kilometre deep, catching squid,

but, waiting in the wings, these savvy sharks can

pick off their scraps, scavenging their supper.

The oceanic whitetip - equipped with an inquisitive nature,

cunning enough to scavenge its prey and armed with fantastic fins.

This is truly the ultimate adventurer of the abyss.