Sense-ational Barney's Barrier Reef

Australia - surfers, strange lingo...

No worries, fair dinkum.

..lots of sunshine and the bonza Barrier Reef.

It's the biggest most spectacular coral reef in the world.

What's more, every creature is linked to another.

Just imagine one huge family tree dating back 18 million years.

From the minuscule to the mammoth, to the miraculous,

they're all connected in Barney's Barrier Reef.

Oh, wow! I can hear the ocean.

That's because you're IN the ocean.

Oh, yeah.

I, on the other hand, have a real sixth sense.

I can really sense things around me.

It's uncanny - check this out.

I can sense, that today it's going to be sunny with a slight breeze.

Oh, wow, your senses are spot-on.

All right, I can sense there's a crab coming over that rock...now.

It's coming...

..it's obviously doing something more important.

Oh, I can tell you that tonight...

it's going to be a full moon.

Sorry, that's next week.

Wow. So, I guess I don't need to tell you there's a shark behind you.

What?! Shark!

Ha-ha! It's not a real shark.

I guess, we've just proved that between us

we don't have the greatest senses,

but when it comes to these guys on the reef...

they've got senses you haven't even heard of.

They're sense-ational.

You see what I did there, sense-ational.

I smell a little fishy.

I'm scared.

Now, this is one big nostril and one amazing sense of smell.

Meet the cunning cone shell.

He pretends to be an innocent shell...

but is constantly on the smell for dinner.

As water passes through this tubey nostril of his,

the cone shell is able to smell the aroma of nearby snoozing fish

who suspect nothing until it's too late.

I get it - the cone shell looks sweet and innocent,

so who would suspect him of being a predator?

The fish is at a bit of a disadvantage.

The cone shell, with his extra long nostril can smell him,

but he can't smell the cone shell.

Yikes! Bye!

Whoa! He's a fast worker.

This is a multipurpose siphon,

Hidden underneath is his tongue. On the end there's a tooth,

but not any ordinary tooth,

a barbed tooth that stabs its prey

like a poisoned dart.

The speed of attack together with his deadly venom

mean that despite looking sweet and innocent...

Can I help in any way?

..he's actually a deadly, poisonous predator.

A-ha, a deadly shell with super smell.

Who smells so well, but you just can't tell.

OK, enough of this bad poetry. Let's see our next sense-ability.

Testing, testing -

crayfish to mantas shrimp, do you read me, over and out?

What?

Those must be the biggest antennae in the world.

In the sea world, definitely.

Relatively speaking, they do have antennae as long as their bodies.

But that's not the only weird thing about them.

Listen to this for a strange set of parts -

they have a body armour, eyes on stalks,

six feet round the mouth, five pairs of legs

and a fan on the bottom. What?

Body armour, eyes on stalks,

six feet by their mouths, five pairs of legs

and a fan on the bum.

Hello. That's amazing.

That is one freaky body.

Imagine if you had to walk around looking like that.

And yet they kind of look OK, unlike me.

Well, they have many talents.

They use their antennae as legs, mostly to smell.

When it comes to smelling they really are quite smell-sational.

Give me a break.

No-one asked you.

You were saying.

I think it's science time.

OK, here's the science bit. Listen and learn.

About 40 per cent of a crayfish's brain is devoted to smell

compared to approximately one per cent of a human's.

Oh, thanks Dr. B.

They sense chemicals in the water, using these little leggy bits here.

They're called antennules. Like diddy antennae.

Yeah, kind of. They use their sensational smell

mainly to find food, but it also comes in handy for...

smelling the wee of other crayfish.

Urgh! Yuck!

Pardon?

Yeah, when crayfish fight they wee into the water.

What? That's so cool.

Rather unusual weaponry I have to say.

The smell of the wee tells the crayfish how strong his opponent is.

It may even help him to decide

whether to carry on fighting or back down.

Crayfish are a feast of senses.

They also hear through their legs.

Their little hairy legs are able to sense water movements too.

Oh, I can hear you. Oh, stop weeing.

So, we've had one mega tube nostril and legs that can smell.

Ocean sniffer animals are quite extreme.

Just like our sniffing cone shell, our crafty crayfish

has its very own strange way of smelling,

not to mention strange things its smelling.

But its about to get even weirder.

This is fun.

Peekaboo. Mine's better, I've got balloons.

I give up, Sid. Where are you hiding?

My mum got me a pink one.

Now, show me someone who doesn't love a clownfish.

Ah, look at them - clowning around.

Hey, Gem, what did the shark say to his mate after eating a clownfish?

Did that taste funny to you?

They're so cute though.

If you think that's cute, wait until you see this.

It's a baby clownfish. Cool.

Look - a titchy fish the size of a bean, but with a supersonic smell.

Really. Oh, yeah, and boy do they need it.

The mummy clownfish lays her eggs in the anemone,

the home of the clownfish,

but once they are born they drift away into the ocean.

This isn't going to be sad story, is it?

They may look cute, but they're tough.

They're now on their own in the ocean

and have to find another anemone to set up their own home.

So, they're in the ocean, which is a pretty big place.

How do they find an anemone, don't they get lost?

That's where the anemone comes to the rescue.

I'm over here, clowny.

He releases a scent into the water,

which the clownfish can sense from miles away.

Strange. It's like me smelling Mum's cooking from the other end of town.

It's believed that clownfish know which smell to follow,

as they're covered in the mucus of the anemone they were born in.

So, they wait until they get a whiff of something that smells like home.

Then they follow their nose across the ocean

to find their pal, the anemone,

and nuzzle in for a fresh coat of mucus.

Ah, home sweet home. We love you.

Amazingly sensitive smelling skills. What does the anemone get out of it?

This is a classic reef symbiotic friendship.

It's an I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine, type of friendship.

The bouncy clownfish help to scare other fish, like the butterfly fish.

Boo. Go away.

See, you never knew smell could be so handy, did you?

Like our crazy crayfish who sniffs his opponent's wee in the water,

the super sniffing clownfish and the anemone use scent in the ocean

to communicate with each other.

How sense-ational.

Erm, shouldn't someone tell that fish that eating sand uphill

is probably not a good idea?

It's OK. This is a goatfish.

They are not eating sand, but using their goatee whiskers

to sift through the sand for bits of food.

Goatfish - you're kidding, right?

Kidding because baby goats are called kids. That's why it's funny.

Oh, that's a cutey.

As I was saying, they're called goatfish

cos of these whiskery barbels under their chin, just like a goat's beard.

Cool! It's like having your own mouth rake.

But finding food in the sand is like looking for a needle in a haystack

or, in this case, a shrimp in a sea bed.

Ah, they're not just ordinary whiskers, they can actually taste,

like whiskery tongues,

so it may look like they're just rustling up a sandstorm,

but they're actually noshing at the same time.

He is constantly on the go, looking for food,

which might explain why he has lots of fishy friends following him.

Hi, goatie. What's up? Hey, follow that goatfish.

Got any spare grub today, goatie?

It might also explain why sometimes he just needs to be alone.

Do you mind? I'm chilling, go away.

So, what's the connection between the bearded goatfish and the clownfish?

They both use taste and smell more than sight.

The clownfish smelt the anemone from way out at sea

and the goatfish can taste food hidden deep in the sand.

Next up - sheepfish.

No, I'm only kidding. No such thing as sheepfish.

But this guy's just as cheerful.

And he's got a very strange shaped body.

Yes, meet the rather bizarre boxfish. Not difficult to see why.

His body is square at the corners, so he looks like a box.

Excuse me. Hey!

He's not a very fast mover,

I mean, his fins look a bit useless, if you ask me.

Oh, he doesn't need bigger fins. Boxy here has got toxic skin

and tastes disgusting.

So, he gets left in peace to mosey round the reef at his own pace.

But he looks too pretty to be toxic.

That's another clue to his predators to leave him be.

His bright outfit says, "I might look tasty, but eat me and weep."

So, he's a mini-link to our goatfish with his tasty whiskers,

one has an amazing sense of taste and one tastes amazingly bad.

Does memory count as a sense? Because I'm losing mine.

You're gonna have to remind me. OK, it's reef-cap time.

Well, the cunning cone shell was our first super sensor.

His extendable smelling tongue and innocent appearance

means he can sneak up unseen on his unsuspecting dinner.

As for the crayfish, I won't be paddling in crayfish waters

any time soon. When they are fighting each other they speak with their wee.

Eww!

Ha! That's wee-ird.

Your sense of humour needs some work.

Get on with the reef-cap.

You're just too sensible.

Next - the cute clownfish with their super smell.

Able to smell their anemone friends, kilometres away.

For top taste buds,

you can't beat the goatfish with his tasting whiskers.

But no-one wants to taste our toxic boxfish.

It's OK for him to stand out with his boxy body

because he has yucky tasting skin.

What a collection, although I sense our next sensors

are going to be even more mind-boggling.

Meet the cute little cleaner wrasse.

As their name suggests, they spend their time cleaning up,

nibbling nasties off the skin of fishes to stop them getting poorly.

I like his little dance and I'm glad he's enjoying himself, but why?

This is his way of saying,

"I'm free. Hello, fishes. Anyone want a clean up?"

Oh, he's a cleaner. Yeah. Where's his feather duster?

They don't need it. All they need is their mouths and a big belly.

They clean up the fish by eating all the nasty bits off them.

Hang on a minute, that fish is massive and possibly quite hungry.

Why doesn't he gulp up the cleaner wrasse?

That's what happens to most fish in the reef.

Well, the cleaner wrasse is super safe,

even with fish that are partial to a wrasse or two for dinner.

OK, confusion overload.

Well, the cleaner wrasse know how to soothe the hungry fish

by touching them with their fins as they clean.

Very brave...but stupid.

It's quite the opposite. The cleaner wrasse knows

that if he starts massaging the bigger fish

this will convince Mr Hungry Fish that he's doing a great job cleaning

and that it's better not to eat him.

OK, now I understand. It is a bit weird though, isn't it?

Well, they know their clients well.

Once the fish starts to enjoy the massage, he will stay around longer

giving the cleaner wrasse more parasites to nibble.

Oh, yes, more.

The cleaner wrasse also seems to know when his clients are hungry

and then he stays well away from their toothy chops. Get lost.

And some fish visit the wrasse up to 150 times a day.

Wow, that is a lot of massaging.

Considering his size he's definitely a brave fish,

but it doesn't look as though he works as hard as old man goatfish,

who constantly rummages through the sand.

So, just like our gregarious goatfish

who feels his way to food with his whiskery feelers,

the cleaner wrasse knows that tickling their fishy clients

will ensure they get a fantastic feed.

Why are shrimps always cleaning up? Come on, mate, get a life seriously.

Don't have a go at the shrimp or you may have to deal with the scary goby.

If you're not from the burrow, you're not coming in.

Gobies are the shrimp bodyguards.

They live together with the shrimp.

While the shrimp tidies and builds the burrow,

the gobies keep watch.

Sid, keep an eye on that dodgy looking geezer over there, will you.

They take their work very seriously, don't they?

Oh, yeah, these gobies are not to be messed with.

They are very protective over their mate shrimpy, here.

Shrimpy, stay indoors. It's not safe.

I'll just get rid of this rubble.

The shrimp has poor eyesight,

so relies on the goby to let him know when there might be danger lurking.

Hang on a minute - I thought this show was about amazing senses.

Even I can see under water...

..well, a little bit. Whoa!

The goby can't talk...

and the shrimp can't see,

so how does he know when to scarper?

They are in constant contact with their shrimpy buddies.

The shrimp keeps its antennae touching the body of the goby,

who flicks the shrimp with its tail when it's alarmed.

Then they both scarper into the burrow and they're as safe as houses.

They are an unlikely pairing.

Like all good friendships, I guess, opposites attract

plus they both get lots of benefits from being buddies.

The shrimp gets a warning of approaching danger

and the goby gets a nice and very clean home to lay its eggs in.

So, the shrimp and goby look out for each other by keeping in touch.

Ah, how touching.

And like our cleaner wrasse and his fishy clients,

the shrimp and goby choose to stay in touch, by touch.

So, who's our next sense-ation?

Who are these dudes?

You've got that right, Gem, they are dudes.

Let me introduce the barracuda,

hanging out together in their barracuda fish school.

Yo, man, what's up.

So, they're cool but not too cool for school. Not for fish school no.

They hang out in school gangs and not much

phases them with their sleekness and fangs. They think they're dudes.

It's not so wise to tell them they are not the best lookers.

Whatever. Why do they have a high opinion of themselves?

They know that together they are quite fearsome

and they stick together

in their schools like this. Over to you Dr Barnacles.

They have a lateral line down the side of their bodies,

running from head to tail.

The line consists of tiny hairs which sends information to the brain

about changes in the water pressure.

The hair-brained communication means they feel objects around them

which explains why they can travel

without bumping into rocks or each other.

Oh, thanks, Dr Barnacles, oh, you are a clever chap. That's all right, Gem.

I mean thank you, Gemma, lovely. Over to you Barney.

Thanks, Dr Barnacles. On top of that they have good eyesight

and can sprint swim up to 38 miles an hour. Now that is sense-ational.

Like the shrimp who uses antenna to keep in touch,

the barracuda also keep in touch remotely.

Hey hello, Flipper.

What's up, Barney?

Dolphins are cool for many reasons.

They swim brilliantly, are great divers but they also have amazing

hearing, ten times better than us.

What. I said, "Ten times better than us."

Wow! Very funny. So why do they need to hear so well?

It's hard to see long distances under water,

so they need a way to find food,

navigate and know where all their mates are.

Don't tell me - I've worked it out.

They wave their flippers. So one wave means,

"Let's jump out of the water!" Two waves -

that's like a dolphin high five.

"Give me some fin. " Three waves is, "Like a cup of tea?" Four waves,

"I could do with a biscuit to keep my energy up."

Don't listen to him! Dolphins are lot more clever than that -

they use echolocation.

DOLPHIN "CHUCKLES"

Pardon? I said, "Echolocation." I said, "Echolocation."

As I was saying, echolocation is a device

that lots of marine mammals use to find their way around.

They send out sound waves or sonar clicks

that are bounced back when the wave hits an object.

Uh?! When the sound bounces, it returns to the dolphins with the info

they need to know about their surroundings.

They know what's lurking in the murky water and can sense

its shape, size and speed. So a dolphin

could detect a golf ball bouncing from a whole football field away.

Cool, so that would be like us knowing there's a party going on

on the island without hearing or seeing anything. A party here?!

# Limbo, limbo. #

As if. One thing I've always wondered though, how do they actually talk?

It's thought that they talk

by pushing air at high pressure through their nostrils.

Cheerio.

Like the barracuda the dolphins can sense each other

from a distance. The barracudas via the lateral line

on their sides and the dolphins through echolocation.

Gem, you've got to be sense-ible. It's time for a reef-cap.

The cleaner wrasse are crafty cleaners.

By tickling clients they get to feed and stay alive.

And talk about touching. There's nothing like this ocean friendship.

While the shrimp cleans, the goby keeps watch

for unwelcome guests and tells the shrimp

when to return to the burrow. But our barmy barracuda

have skin sensors so they can stick together in schools,

so they are the coolest characters in the reef.

Whatever. Cool maybe but not as cool as the delectable dolphins -

aa aaa aaa-uh - with their super echolocating skills.

Who's our next sense-ation?

Oh, I just need to get up there.

Go on, shrimpy, you can do it.

There you go. Easy, these shrimps can do anything.

Yeah, or nothing. He's asleep.

Barney I think he's hurt his claw.

Well spotted, he does have a giant claw but that's his party trick.

Uh?

What? It's supposed to be that size. Oh, yes, meet the snapping shrimp.

He's so cute!

Also known as the pistol shrimp. Ah, pleased to meet you, shrimpy.

I'm scared.

So what's with the giant claw? It's a prey stunner.

Aaaargh!

Barney! There had better be a good reason for doing that.

I was demonstrating how the pistol shrimp uses its claw.

Now for the science bit.

To stun their prey, the shrimp snaps his claw shut

forcing out water at 100 kilometres an hour.

This forms a bubble which collapses very quickly causing a super loud

popping sound like a huge underwater shock wave.

What's for dinner?

I'm scared.

So he has this giant claw which he uses to send his prey into shock

and then he can gobble them up easily? Wow! How quick was that?

I'm sure the hermit crab

jumped as much as I did within his little shell. Grrrr!

CRAB WHIMPERS

Oh, you're a wee man.

The sounds he makes are louder than a real pistol

and the bubble reaches the temperature of the Sun's surface.

So, he's born with a massive right hook and instead of knocking

his prey over the head with it, he uses it to snap out water. Why?

His sensational shock waves work from a distance which means

he doesn't even have to get close to his prey to kill it.

Pretty crafty. Ah, and he looks so sweet and innocent.

Like dolphins, the snapping shrimps get what they need using sound.

The dolphins get their surroundings

and the shrimps knock over their dinner.

Well this geezer looks a bit..."saw".

He's "saw" all right. This is the sawfish.

Hello, dear.

He has a snout like a vacuum cleaner, metal detector

and spiky baseball bat all rolled into one.

So with a snout like that he has to be a great sniffer, yeah?

Ah, he does a lot more than smell.

He has electro-sensory pores on the underside of his saw snout.

These are able to pick up electrical fields from prey in the sand. Cool.

Like a Jedi - a snout like a light sabre.

His snout is by far his best accessory.

He uses it to smell, taste, hear and touch his prey -

who have no idea he has electro sensed them until it's too late.

Hey!

And, my grandma, what a big mouth he has.

That's where the vacuum cleaner comes in.

He can slash, shake or suck his victims up with his snout.

It's all very well slashing, shaking and electro sensing

but he can't fit his victim in his mouth!

What a wally. Like the snapping shrimp the sawfish uses his senses

to catch his dinner.

Oh, wow, look, dancing grass!

And sway to the left. And body-pop and dance...

They like synchronised dancing and even body-popping.

But it's not grass - this is the garden eel gang.

But they look nothing like the moray eel.

Yeah. Thank goodness!

Where's he gone?

Oh, there he is. Hello. Well, the garden eels

are shyer than the moray eel and they don't have much in common.

The moray eels have a super sense of smell,

the garden eels have big eyes

and amazing eyesight so they can see food and predators much better.

Why do they scoot down at once? There's not that many predators.

Yeah, they're a bit wimpy.

If they sense danger, the whole lot of them go down.

They copy each other.

Quick something's coming. Eric, hurry up. Eric, you're always last.

Do they ever split up

or leave their holes? No, there's no place like a sandy burrow.

They are covered in slime to slide in and out of their holes.

So the garden eels have magnificent eyesight so what's the connection?

Like our sawfish our garden eels use their super sense to find food.

Hey, look, Gem, I'm a swordfish.

It was a SAW-fish, Barney.

I should have SAW that coming.

I did a joke. It wasn't funny.

OK, time for a reef-cap.

First up was our cunning cone shell,

with his siphon snout no chilling fish is safe.

Who would a seashell to be a deadly poisonous predator.

Who'd suspect crayfish of smelling through their legs

and communicating through wee.

I am very glad I can talk.

For supersonic smell look no further than

the teeny clownfish who follow their nose to their mate the anemone.

What fish with whiskers on their chins like their namesakes.

These greedy goatfish use their whiskers to find food.

And an amazing sense of taste,

unlike the ungainly boxfish who looks good but tastes amazingly bad.

Sense-ational! Our cleaner wrasse know that the best way to feast

on their clients is to tickle them, making sure

they stay around allowing the wrasse to feed.

For a touching twosome you can't beat the shrimp and his bodyguards

who tell the shrimp when to go to the burrow.

Our barracuda dudes rule the ocean

in their supersensory schools keeping in touch by side sensors.

A high five for our dolphins whose sonar senses

mean they can communicate from miles away.

And what about your snapping shrimp and mega claw that he uses

to make a super loud pop?

Nothing beats your very own electrical super snout...

Hello, dear.

..which the sawfish uses to see, hear, taste and smell prey. Hey.

Good eyesight is cool if it lets you do synchronised swimming

with your mates like our scaredy garden eels.

Something's coming, get down.

Ah... Gemma, I might be developing super senses of my own.

I'm getting a real waft of chocolate cake. That smell

must be coming from the mainland and I can smell it.

That's amazing. Mm. Amazing.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.

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