Spineless Barney's Barrier Reef

Australia - home of the possum,

-cool surfer dudes, strange lingo...

-No worries, mate. Fair dinkum.

..sunshine and the bonzer Barrier Reef.

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

And, 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...

# I'm digging a hole It's much bigger than yours

# Because yours is smaller than mine And that's why mine is bigger... #

Straighten up, Barney.

You've got a backbone, use it. Don't slouch.

OK. Well, I don't see what the big deal is.

You don't see what the big deal is?!

You rely on your backbone.

-Without it, you wouldn't be able to do anything.

-Yeah, yeah. Whatever.

Without a backbone, you wouldn't be able to lie in that hammock.

Or swim.

Yeah. Not at all irritating, Gem(!)

-Ah, cool!

-Or bend over like that.

-No, you couldn't even do that without a spine.

-Look, OK. OK. I get it.

Well, without a spine or a backbone, you'd just be really floppy.

So we've got a backbone and we call it a spine?

Without it, pretty useless, a bit like a sea slug.

Sea slugs aren't useless. They've got

amazing ways of getting around and surviving.

-In the ocean, no spine is no problem.

-I'm intrigued.

Well, let's meet our floppy, fishy friends

and find out who is completely spineless.

Oh, look, a squirt!

A squirt? No way!

Oh, yes. Officially known as the sea squirt, our first invertebrate -

or animal without a backbone.

What does it do, exactly?

Well, not much, to be honest.

It just stays in one spot for its whole life.

It's got no spine, it doesn't do anything - it's a lazy squirt!

BARNEY SNORES

Reminds me of someone.

Oi! Well, actually, as it happens, you're onto something there, Gem.

I am kind of related to him - but, then, so are you.

-What are you talking about?

-OK, this creature may look like

the most basic of all creatures, but according to evolution,

there is a big family tree that goes back millions of years.

And on this tree, humans are related to the sea squirts.

-Huh?

-Yeah. When they're babies, they have a little spinal cord,

which puts them in the same family tree as us.

-They eat it when they become adults.

-What?! Hang on a second!

I don't know which I find the strangest - the fact we're related

or the fact they eat their spinal cord.

-And their brain, and their tail.

-Urgh! That is disgusting!

Makes you wanna puke! As adults, they settle in one place

by kind of gluing their heads to one spot on the reef.

They don't need their spinal cord, tail or brain any more,

so they eat them. A reef takeaway - they take it away from themselves.

Before they do this, they're similar to us,

with a brain and a spine, and that's why we're related?

Yeah. Sea squirts are closer cousins to us than creatures

like the octopus or the jellyfish.

Yeah, but there's not much squirting action. I want my money back.

So, which creature is connected to our spineless sea squirt?

OK, here's our next spineless wonder.

This is a member of the sea cucumber family.

Hold the phone, I have never seen a cucumber this long!

He's about seven metres.

Well, that's taller than a giraffe.

OK, where's he gone? Oh, straight out of Harry Potter!

He's going from the longest long thing in the world

to something that looks like a cucumber.

They may look a bit useless, but their flabby, spineless body

allows them to crawl about and extend or shrink extremely fast,

which squeeze fluids around in the same way

-a water balloon would move if we squeezed it.

-They're a bit slow.

They can be quite energetic when they want to.

They eat all the time and process their food within one hour.

IT BLOWS A RASPBERRY

So, just like the sea squirt, the cucumber has no spine and no armour,

but somehow they still manage to survive.

Super softies! The sea squirts and cucumbers

are connected because they have no protection.

OK, time to move on.

As requested, onto our next spineless wonder.

Oh, snails?!

Get a move on, mate, we haven't got all day!

Hey, give them a chance - they haven't got a spine, remember?

Pull the other one. They are just so slow!

So? They still move, don't they?

They've only got a small floppy body

and have to carry around that big shell.

Then why don't they choose something smaller - d'oh?!

Because they need protection.

-Their shell is like their own 24 hour bodyguard. Cool, huh?

-Not sure.

All right. Well, this'll wake you up.

This cone shell is one of the most venomous molluscs in the ocean.

-All aboard!

-I like him.

He just lassoed that fish!

See? You're so quick to judge.

They may be slow, but they know how to look after themselves.

They find the best armour and, spine or no spine, they're sorted.

OK, fine, you win.

So, the snail is really squishy, like the sea cucumbers,

but at least they have a shell for protection.

Soft bodies is the connection between these two spineless creatures.

OK, well, you won that one, but I have got a much better

spineless shell. Check him out.

-FRENCH ACCENT:

-Bonjour! I am ze flameshell.

I am red like a flame with my wild, flowing, messy locks. Ooh la la!

FRENCH ACCENT: Barney? Barney?

Where are you? Oh, Barney, you hot shell - come here!

Ah, zere you are! Mwoah!

I need to be alone! Do not touch me!

Oh la la, zis is so romantic!

Mwoah! Mon cherie!

Stop sticking to me. No!

-You messed with my hair - that I cannot forgive.

-No!

Barney, come back. No!

Er...Gem?

-Yeah?

-Flameshells aren't French, are they?

-Er...no.

They're reclusive by nature, so that second flameshell was persistent.

Again, they're soft-bodied animals that rely on their shells

for survival, but cos they can't close their shell,

they do tend to be shy, so it's hide away or be eaten.

All right, I have to admit it - that was a pretty impressive shell.

Yes, I think it's fair to say it definitely beats your snail, Gem.

Our flashy flameshell is, of course, connected to the super slow marine

snails cos they both live in France... I mean, in shells!

And who's connected to the flameshell?

Ah, Hermy the hermit crab.

He looks a bit naked.

Looking for his shell, no doubt.

"Ah, home sweet home - peace and quiet. Phew!"

Uh-oh...

He's being crab attacked!

AMERICAN ACCENT: Two Crabs.

-AMERICAN ACCENT:

-Who will be the victor?

-And claim the end prize.

Heroic hermit crab is hiding from this ferocious sand attack.

Great sand throwing technique, but is it working?

I think Heroic is staying put.

He knows when to stay down to survive.

Having survived the sand attack, he's back on his feet.

He's a tough cookie, this one.

He won't be giving that prize away easily.

Oh, and Combat crab is going for the back attack!

Heroic is showing immense strength, carrying both him and Combat.

-That is quite amazing.

-He's steadying himself.

Oh, he's going for the tip!

Combat crab just won't let go.

It's an amazing feat of willpower and strength by the little guy.

He's not giving up, though.

Oh, what a turn-up! He's thrown him off with a spectacular move.

What strength, what agility!

-Combat claims the grand prize of the white shell.

-Yeah!

Leaving our loser, Heroic, with a poor consolation prize.

-Oh, no!

-Oh, dear. Contender two

really has got the booby prize of a bit of abandoned pipe. Poor guy.

He put up a brave fight but he's not looking too comfortable.

I think he's been driven round the U-bend!

That's hilarious! Is this starting to hurt your voice?

Oh, yes! Oh!

So, the hermit crab uses any shell or cover he can find

to act as his backbone, even if it means fighting for it.

Flameshells are kind of lucky, then, I guess. They've got two shells each.

So, Heroic hermit is connected to the floppy flameshell we saw earlier

through their shell.

So, let's take a look back over our spineless sea sensations.

We've gone all the way from the sea squirt to the home-loving

hermit crab. How did we get here?

First up, the sea squirts.

Experts say they're related to humans, but I can't see it.

They are connected to our not-so-cool cucumbers - flexible but urgh!

-They're linked to our snails, which are slow...

-And boring.

And sometimes venomous.

-But what about ze funny floppy flameshell?

-Oh, so emotional!

Yeah, but not so French.

Linked, of course, by their shell, to the hermit crab.

So, what have you got for me here? I'm waiting.

The arrow crab.

-And cue crab.

-He's there!

You need to look properly.

No, not seeing anything.

OK. I guess we'll have to go closer.

Eh, w... Now, that is not a crab!

-That's a spider!

-If that was a spider, I would not be sat here now.

I'd be on a plane back to the UK. It's a crab!

What kind of crab looks like that?

It does look like a spider.

Yeah, it does, but it's much nicer.

It has 10 spider-like legs, but not many other similarities to

either spiders or crabs.

It doesn't walk like other crabs.

No, arrow crabs are very slow and they don't have the defence

-mechanisms that other crabs have, like no real armour.

-That is weird.

Another bizarre backboneless wonder.

Right then, my turn.

RADIO CRACKLES

Testing, testing, Barney to spiny crayfish.

'Incoming transmission has been detected.'

Those must be the biggest antennae in the world!

Relatively, Gem, they are. They have antennae as long as their bodies,

but that's not their only weird body bit.

Listen to this for a strange set of parts.

They have a body armour, eyes on stalks,

six small limbs round the mouth, five pairs of legs and...

a fan on the bum.

-What?!

-And yet they kind of look OK.

That is one freaky body.

Imagine if you had to walk around looking like that!

They use their antennae and legs to taste and fend off predators.

Their other party trick is their ability to regrow bits

of their body. Amazing!

If they get in a fight and lose a leg or two, they can get by

until they grow another one.

Ah, yes, another one with a suit of armour - just like the arrow crab.

So they must be related?

They are. They belong to the same family as crabs, the crustaceans.

And what on earth is connected to an arrow crab?

Oh, hey - ocean hedgehogs!

The spiniest creature in the reef by far, these are sea urchins.

Spiniest, but spineless.

And spectacularly useful.

OK, so they're not movers and shakers, these guys, but those

spikes are like very sharp needles

and contain a toxin, so if we stood on one, it would be rather painful.

Yeah, but at the end of the day, it's a ball of spikes. Moving on...

No, they're much more complicated than that, Barney.

They have an external skeleton and this bit here...

-Yeah, that's the eye.

-Er, no, that is their, um...poo bag.

What?!

The bag is there to hold their poo so they don't suck it in again

with the surrounding water, cos that would be horrible.

Yeah, definitely moving on.

These guys are like the bodyguards of the reef -

a perfect place for these cardinal fish to hide from predators.

Who's gonna try to eat them when they might get a spike

-stuck in them?

-That's a good point.

Good point, get it?!

As I was saying, they're ocean protectors but they also have to

hitch a ride with the carrier crab, albeit somewhat reluctantly,

when the crab needs a bodyguard.

Portable bodyguards, that's ace!

So, these are serious spikes,

up there with our spiny crayfish.

So, sea urchins are connected to our spiny crayfish

through their spiky spines. Very sharp.

Sharp, get it?!

-SPANISH ACCENT:

-It's El Spanish dancer, ole!

Sorry.

Meet our Spanish dancer, nudibranch.

Pretty in pink with its own shrimp accessory.

Hang on, is this another shrimp cleaning?

What is it with these shrimps? They need to get out more.

It is indeed having a little clean,

but the shrimp is mainly getting a free nosh up.

The ocean version of meals on wheels.

Ah, these shrimps are well crafty, but doesn't the nudibranch mind?

No. The shrimp helps keep him clean and free from parasites

and the nudibranch keeps the shrimp safe from predators.

So the shrimp gets a free ride, protection and a free meal. Ha!

Nice work if you can get it.

I'll say one thing, it's hard to find a lazy shrimp in the ocean world.

For something so tiny and without a backbone,

they're hard grafters with many talents.

So, the sea urchin provides a hiding place and the shrimp

uses the nudibranch to travel around.

So our imperial shrimp links to the sea urchin because they both pair up

with their spineless buddies.

So, who's our next spiny sea lover?

Our next spineless wonder is everywhere.

The biggest and most dominant animal colony in the reef. The corals.

This is where lots of little polyps

work together to create one big living animal.

Which then becomes a house and protects loads of reef creatures.

So coral is the ultimate spineless contender,

a massive team of spineless creatures joined together as one.

Oh, yes, a spineless united!

Hang on, what are all those little balls?

-An ocean snowstorm.

-This is one

of the most wondrous sights in the ocean.

It's called coral spawning.

It only happens once a year

and no-one really knows why, but it's mainly dependent on the full moon.

It's very pretty, but what is it?

Well, it's basically the coral laying eggs into the water.

It's quite spooky, really. On that one day most coral decide to spawn

within a few hours of each other and some even at exactly the same time.

# Do do do do do do do do... #

That's why the reefs keep living - the moon, sun,

tides and corals somehow let each other know it's spawning time.

Coral have an amazing ability to conquer, settle and outgrow

and spawning is a large part of that process.

Now that is one spineless wonder. Ha, beat that, Barney.

Hang on a second. What's the link back to the imperial shrimp?

They both wear their skeleton on the outside.

So our coral is linked to our sneaky shrimps by their external skeletons.

So, let's go over those connections.

Right you are. It's time to recap our spineless wonders.

So, our hermit crab is linked to our arrow crab, who's connected to our

extra-spiney crayfish with his amazing antennae.

BARNEY IMITATES STATIC

Yeah, but he's just a tiny spiny compared to the sea urchins

with ultra-long spines.

They're a perfect shelter for their ocean buddies.

Talking of buddies, what about the shrimp and some of his shrimp mates,

who hitch a ride on the nudibranchs and the cucumbers.

Off we go.

Whose external skeleton links him to the ocean's very own

spineless united coral.

The weirdest worms in the world, these are Christmas-tree worms.

Aw, they're a bit shy.

These spineless critters burrow into the coral

and live there, popping up to have a nosy,

knowing they could pop back down

into the safety of the coral whenever they please.

And I'm guessing they must be linked to our coral because

they live in the coral skeleton.

Correctamundo, dudette.

Right, bring on our next connection.

Awesome.

A-ha, nudibranchs, I remember them!

So they're related to the Spanish dancer we saw earlier then.

Oh, that one's cool. I want that one.

Gem, they're slugs!

-No way!

-Yes, way.

This reef place is weird, remember.

-These geezers are sea slugs.

-Hello.

Oh, now, slugs I don't like, but these guys are pretty.

Maybe I can make an exception.

All right. Well, what if I told you they're flesh-eating slugs?

Barney, have you been watching bad sci-fi films again?

Yeah, but that's not why I'm saying it.

You think they're so pretty, listen to the facts and brace yourself.

These spineless slugs eat other spineless animals just like them.

They can eat jellyfish, anemone, corals.

They don't look fierce.

And then they absorb bits of the creature they've eaten

-to use for their own self defence.

-Huh?

-Eh?

For example, they might gulp down a sea anemone,

but are able to use its sting to protect themselves

or borrow toxins from the other animals like sponges

that help make themselves taste really, really bad.

-Yuk.

-Some of them even eat other sea slugs.

Oh, double yuk. They're cannibals!

This show just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Yeah, so it's another spineless

partnership, the shy Christmas-tree worm hides in the coral

and the nudibranch steals the sting from anemones.

So our nudibranch and Christmas tree worms are connected because they make

good use of their spineless cousins.

So, who's this then?

He looks like he's at a pop concert.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

Like he's swaying to a romantic song.

-This is a solar-powered nudibranch.

-Hang on a minute.

We've just had nudibranch, that's cheating.

There's nothing in the programme rules

about having the same type of animal.

I'm not convinced. This had better be good.

Hang on, solar-powered.

Buildings are solar-powered, not sea creatures!

-Ah, but Gem, remember, the sea came first.

-Ah.

Creatures like this are the originators of solar power.

And now for the science.

-Uh-oh.

-There are tiny plants in the ocean

and like all plants they take energy

from the sun and turn it to food.

The solar-powered nudi keeps loads of these plants in its body.

See the gold spots all over it?

Well, that's them.

But I still don't get the solar-powered bit.

Elaborate, please, Dr Barnacle.

Seeing as you ask so nicely I'd love to.

The algae converts the sun's energy into sugar,

which the nudibranch uses as food.

It's like the nudibranch has its own greenhouse in its body.

So those gold spots are like mini solar power panels?

That's correct, my dear Gemma.

Oh, OK, well, I'll forgive your double nudibranch cheat then.

I only wanted explained the connection.

Well, that's easy. The link between the standard nudibranch

and the solar-powered nudibranch is that both of them

pinch useful things from other animals to survive.

Is it a fish? Is it a squid? No.

It's the one and only super-octopus!

The spectacular spineless superhero.

Well, OK, so he moves well with cool colour changes,

-but can he really be called a superhero?

-Oh, absolutely.

Take a look at this.

Yeah, he's a cool mover, but I'm still not convinced.

OK, be prepared to change your mind.

Here are the octopuses' superpowers.

Superpower number one.

The octopus has super vision.

They have a super lens that allows them to change their range of vision,

a bit like an in-built camera.

-Yeah, that's not bad.

-Ho ho ho!

Superpower number two.

Octopi are highly intelligent.

They've been known to solve puzzles and tell the difference

between shapes and sizes.

It's got bits of brain in its arms as well as in its head!

Superpower number three.

An octopus is strong and agile.

They've been known to squeeze into things much smaller than them,

like this Cola bottle here.

Wow, that's more like it.

That is a proper superpower.

Superpower number four.

Octopuses have a beak made out of super hard material.

On some species this will be used to kill prey and bite them into pieces.

Some even have deadly venom, like the blue ringed octopus here.

I thought they were comical bobbly things!

Superpower number one, two, three, four, five.

They can release a thick black ink at the drop of a hat.

This confuses their enemies and dulls

their smell so they can escape unharmed.

Wow, like a smokescreen. Well cool.

OK, I totally agree

the octopus is a spineless superhero with many tricks up its sleeves.

-Tricks up his sleeves. They've got loads of arms!

-Oh, dear!

The nudi and their solar power and octopus

with their superpowers are connected by spineless...

# Super-power-fragilistic ex... # I'm sorry.

What an ending to our spectacular

spineless collection and the octopus connects back to

the spineless sea squirt through its spectacular water squirting ability.

So let us take one last look through our spineless superheroes. Ha ha.

Yeah, in the ocean no spine is no problem.

We started with the sea squirt, the strangest human cousin...

Who links to the squashy shrinking sea cucumber,

because neither have any armour to protect themselves...

Like our soft-bodied slow-coach snails,

but at least they have their shell to screen themselves from danger.

And what about the glamorous flameshell, so funny and fluffy?

Not to mention the hermit crab. They go to war over a shell.

-That's my shell.

-No, it's my shell.

-My shell.

What's Michelle got to do with it?

At least they have a shell. Our weird spidery arrow crabs have

to rely on blending in to stay alive.

The spiny crayfish has the coolest spineless accessories,

-super-long antennae and an external skeleton.

-Call those spines?

Now these are spines! The sea urchin allows its ocean friends

to hide in its super-long spikes.

Shh! You can't see me.

I'm hiding in the spikes.

Just like the imperial shrimp and the rest of his mates hitching

a ride on the Spanish dancer mobile. And the spineless united coral.

With such a big external skeleton,

who needs a backbone?

Well, not the Christmas tree worm, when they have

their protector, the coral, to hide in.

But some spineless wonders have to look after themselves.

The nudibranchs nick toxins and stings

from other animals to protect themselves.

Cool, but not as cool as the solar-powered nudibranch,

who has a plant living inside

providing regular meals to keep his energy up.

The nudi is connected to the octopus through the solar superpower,

who's surely the most sensational spineless superhero.

So our flexible wonders prove that in the ocean spineless can

mean super spectacular - a bit like me, really.

No, nothing like you.

Like our real spineless superheroes.

Well, I must be off. People to save and all that. Up, up and away.

CRASH!

So, we'll see you next time for more watery wonders

on Barney's Barrier Reef.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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