Take My Breath Away Barney's Barrier Reef

Australia! Home of the possum, cool surfer dudes, strange lingo,

fair dinkum, lots of 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 Barney's Barrier Reef!

-What are we wearing, Barney?

-If you want to go swimming

with the fishes and breathe underwater,

-you've got to wear this gear.

-I feel so clumsy in it, though!

I know, I need to lie down!

you don't see any of the fish out in the ocean

wearing all this stuff to breathe underwater.

How do they manage it and look so cool, calm and collected?

They have their own methods of breathing underwater.

And they make it look cooler.

Do you know what? It almost takes my breath away.

Fish breathe water like we breathe air.

I guess that makes sense, but how?

Through their gills, these little frilly things here.

They breathe in through their mouth

and out through their gills into the water.

It's like us breathing through our mouths and out of our ears!

But I don't get it! Don't they need oxygen to survive, like us?

What do you reckon, Dr Barnacle?

Ah-ha, that's correct, Gemma,

but they breathe in water from which they take in the oxygen.

You see, the oxygen is in the water.

And that flap of skin inside the mouth

helps stop the water going back out again.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that funny looking potato cod

was talking to himself, but he's just breathing then, yeah?

And, my, what big lips he has!

Next, please!

Our friend here, the moray eel, is an extreme example

of how fish breathe in the underwater world.

-He does look ridiculous!

-All that opening and closing

is one of the reasons people think he's fierce,

but all he's doing is breathing.

Many eels have this habit of looking like they're chattering away,

but they have to use their mouth overtime to pump water

over their gills, which are on the back of the head, just there.

Oh, I don't get it! So, why don't all fish gulp like that, then?

Because the eels aren't swimming - water doesn't flow

as easily through their mouth and over their gills when they're still.

This is why they look like they're either bad tempered,

or talking themselves into a corner.

So, eels are connected to our potato cod

because they both breathe

through their mouths and gills.

From the overly chatty eels, to the elegant and sweeping manta rays.

Wow, look at them go!

You'd never know they were related to sharks, would you?

No, not much family resemblance at all, but sharks and mantas

do share an ability to move and swim with ease,

and that's helped by the fact that they both have

not two, not four, not even eight, but ten gills each!

What? That's amazing. Most fishing creatures like eels only have two!

They're so much bigger than an eel,

they need bigger gills to breathe because they need more oxygen.

It's like bigger people having bigger lungs. Bigger fish need bigger gills.

So, like our mad moray eel and mates,

the mantas have to push water over their gills to breathe,

even if the eels have been a little

short-changed on the gill front.

So, they're connected by gills.

So, I said I wanted blue stripes with a hint of yellow,

-but I think it's far too much yellow.

-Ooh! I never!

These two may look like they're having a good old chinwag,

but they're actually just having a good nosh up

with their pincers and legs. These are squat lobsters.

Aah! They're diddy lobsters!

Actually, they're called squat lobsters,

but...they're not a lobster.

What?

They look like lobsters, they're called lobsters,

-but they're not lobsters?

-They're crustaceans.

That's the same thing.

They're not. They're kind of like lobsters,

but they're more closely related to crabs.

But back to the matter in hand - breathing.

Where are their gills - those bits around their mouth?

You'd think so, wouldn't you, Barnaby?

No, those are actually just their mouth parts.

While they're twitching these bits,

it helps to push water over their gills right inside this little shell.

The manta ray has ten sets of gills

and the lobster has gills inside its shell?

Yes, and they both push water

over them to breathe.

That's our connection!

-Barney, meet the barnacle!

-Oh, hi there, barnacle!

Hello!

Barnacles are arthropods, related to crabs, shrimps and lobsters.

OK, well, I can't see the family resemblance myself.

Well, unlike their spindly relatives,

barnacles are usually fixed to one spot forever.

So he has to wave all day? Well, at least he's friendly!

Duh! He's not waving, he's breathing!

Since when does shaking a feather duster in the air

-count as breathing?

-Those are his legs!

He opens the hole in his crater and dangles out his legs,

then uses his hairy feet to pick up food and oxygen from the water.

He breathes through his feet?

-Yep!

-Now, that I cannot imagine!

Go on, son! Wave your hands in the air!

Like you want to breathe!

He's good!

So, the not a lobster, squat lobster,

waves its mouth parts around to breathe, and the Barney barnacle

sucks in oxygen through his dancing hairy feet!

OK, so they both dance to breathe,

that's the connection!

Now, when it comes to ocean creatures,

they have some strange ways of doing things,

and breathing is one of them.

So, how do we get from the potato cod

to the little foot-breathing barnacle?

Well, me and Gemma were having a conversation

about how fish breathe underwater

and that led us to Mr potato cod.

With a mouth that big I'm surprised he needs anything else to breathe.

It's huge! But, like most other fish, he also uses his gills.

Which links him to our gobby moray eel and his mates.

Now, it looks like he's having a moan underwater like this.

He's not moaning - he's breathing water through his mouth to his gills

so that he can breathe.

For more supreme gill action, let's not forget

the magnificent manta ray. He's got ten of them!

-That's like us having ten nostrils!

-That's cool!

-Really?

-Yeah, you've got to blow your nose on a massive tissue!

-Eeew!

Not as ingenious as our not a lobster, squat lobster.

He moves his body parts to get his fair share of oxygen.

A bit like the barmy barnacle who waves his skinny legs and feet

in the air like you just don't care so he can breathe.

Who's our next bonkers breather?

OK, what has no head, no brain, no heart, no lungs, no gills,

is 95 per cent made up of water and breathes throughout his whole body?

That would be the watery reef fish, Gemma. Yeah, no, no, no...

It's the no body parts fish.

-Yeah, it's got no body parts. It's a fish...

-No.

-No.

-No, you just made those up!

-Yes.

-This one actually exists - it's the jellyfish!

-Oh, I love jelly!

Jellyfish? What, really?

95 per cent water, no lungs, no gills?

-Are you sure?

-Yep, they're spookily empty

of anything other than tentacles and water.

But they look like they're breathing. Look at them move!

They're just moving through the current. That's not how they breathe.

How do they breathe if they don't have nostrils or gills or lungs?

They're so see-through and spongy,

they breathe through their whole body.

Jellyfish are all about breathing.

They're one big breathing machine.

Water is where all the oxygen is,

and water goes straight through these guys.

That's weird! That's like us being completely covered in lung.

That's gross when you think of it that way,

but you're kind of right.

Both the barnacles and jellyfish have no gills,

so they find another way of breathing.

The barnacles through their feet,

and the jellyfish through their whole body.

So, they're linked because

they're both gill-less wonders.

Sea creatures have lots of different ways of breathing underwater.

Some just a lot weirder than others!

If it's weird breathing you want, Gem,

boy, have I got the animal for you.

It's the sea snake.

A pretty multi-skilled creature.

He has venom, fangs, speed, a paddle tail, nice curvy moves,

but he also has no gills, so how do you think he breathes?

Judging from the line-up so far, it's anyone's guess!

I don't know, his scales? Tail, maybe?

Well, his tail is nearer.

The sea snake can actually breathe oxygen through his bottom.

What? Breathing through his bum?

He's got nostrils, so why does he need to breathe from that end?

He can come to the surface to breathe air through his nose,

but while he's underwater, he can breathe through his bum

because that's the only area where his skin is thin enough

to allow the oxygen through.

Bottom breathing is like a back-up to give them a little help

when they're underwater.

If he breathed through his nostrils underwater,

he'd have a mouth full of water, like us.

But he's diving so deep! How does he manage to stay under?

He takes a mammoth breath and dives.

He can stay under water for up to two hours.

-Come on, shall we give it a try?

-Go on!

-Ready, big breath!

I reckon about 45 seconds.

I counted 50!

So, that means that, roughly, the sea snake can hold their breath

200 times longer than we can.

That's so cool!

Of course, they have to go and take it one step further

and dive down as deep as 90 metres.

That's the height of Big Ben!

Is there anything these animals can't do?

No, not really. They're also deadly.

Just three drops of their venom can kill eight people.

-Are you serious?

OK, they're fast, speedy swimmers and deadly killers.

I won't be getting too close to these slippery serpents.

Like the jellyfish, which uses its entire body as a lung,

sea snakes have no gills,

but by holding their breath and using bottom breathing,

they have found their own unique way

of staying underwater for a very long time.

So, both the sea snake and jellyfish have no gills,

but have found other weird

and wonderful ways to breathe.

Umm, why do I get the feeling, that's another bottom?

Bottom breathing! The sea cucumber also breathes through its bum.

-It's cool, isn't it?

-At least the sea snake is discreet about it.

Trust you to bring the tone down!

Hang on! This is all scientific fact, Gem.

Yeah, well, I think it's just an excuse for you to show

a disgusting shot of a bottom breathing.

This had better be good.

So, look, we've seen fish gills.

Well, sea cucumbers have gills in their bottoms.

-Go on.

-And, as you might imagine, the water up there

doesn't have the most delicate of tastes.

Oh, now, this is already too much information, but we've come this far.

To ensure the oxygen he gets from the water

is a little more satisfactory, he has to breathe

in and out of his bottom to get a clean flow of water.

I'm with that fish - not impressed!

Why not? The sea snake does it, too!

Hmmm, anyway, let's get back

to the real connections.

Who else links to the sea snake?

Oh, no! What's that coming out of the mud?

This better not have anything to do with bottoms again.

-Now, would I?

-Well, yes, you would.

No, this is just an innocent little mud lobster.

And, yes, he is actually a lobster!

He lives a normal life in the mangroves

building mountainous piles of mud.

What? He's responsible for that pile of mud?

Yep, it's his favourite pastime.

He can build them as high as me.

Whoa! Not bad for a critter that size!

That would be like us building a cathedral all on our own!

I know, it's cool stuff.

Hang on, though, don't lobsters usually live underwater?

They do indeed. Yes, lobsters have gills like fish,

but Mr mud shack has found a way to keep breathing on land,

so he can keep up his mud mounding.

What does he breathe, then? Mud?

No, one of the reasons he delves through all this dirt

is to create a little burrow just below the waterline.

That way he always has a little pool of water to bathe in,

and as long as his gills stay wet,

he can then breathe in oxygen from the air.

Another evolutionary wonder!

A lobster that has learned to live on land by breathing air,

and a land snake that's learned to live in the sea

-by breathing through its bottom!

-The wonders of the Barrier Reef!

Both the sea snake and the mud lobster

have learnt to breathe air

in different ways to survive.

OK, who's next?

Forests? In the Barrier Reef?

Yeah, these are mangroves again.

They're kind of small forests along the coastline

and on islands in the Barrier Reef.

I'm no tree expert, but I don't get how trees

manage to grow here. There's just lots of sloppy wet mud,

and don't they need fresh water and not salty sea water?

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

Usually trees take their air from the soil to breathe,

but the mangrove trees have adapted their roots to act as snorkels.

Snorkels, Dr Barnacles?

Yes, Gemma. They take in gases from the air rather than the soil

through loads of tiny little holes in their snorkel roots

that don't allow water and salt in, but do let in the air.

A three metre tree can have as many as 10,000 of these snorkels.

Hmmm, I'm not sure I buy this one, Dr Barnacles.

Well, let me explain further, young lady.

When the tide is low, they take in air through their snorkel roots.

And when the tide is high,

they can store air in the roots like lots of little air pockets.

Ah, no wonder it's such a popular hangout!

Mangroves make up a real living community

where all sorts of animals choose to live together

on a temporary or long-term basis.

Crabs, jellyfish, lobsters, fish, reptiles, birds

and lots of opportunities for mud fights!

Mud soaked mangroves and muddy lobsters!

-No prizes for guessing the connection!

-Exactly - mud living!

Now, that sounds like fun!

Boo! Umm, look behind you, there's a shark!

Umm, are you alive?

Hello!

Ah, the mud skipper, one of the weirdest, boggle eyed,

mud-loving animals in the Barrier Reef.

He'd out-stare anyone, this geezer!

TICKING

BELL

Aw, OK, you win, mud skipper!

Yeah!

What's even weirder is that when they do decide to move,

they're super quick! Where's he gone?

Yeah, they are very weird.

They're like statues one minute and gone the next!

In fact, they're multi-talented. These little critters can jump,

skip, walk and climb and on land they use their fins

to move about in little hops.

Or skips, like their name. But, are they fish or froggy type things?

they're fish, but they've adapted to being on land.

some of them spend almost all their time living on land,

returning to water just to fill up storage gills so they can breathe.

Ah! So, they carry around their own little oxygen water tanks? Cool!

I know, and they can also breathe through their skin,

so they keep their tails in water and roll around in puddles

to keep their skin wet.

The mangrove trees and the mud skipper -

both lucky enough to have their own

personal breathing equipment.

The trees with their air pockets,

and the mud skipper

with their water storage gills.

OK, this is spooky.

I can't see anything, but I think I can hear a spaceship.

Well, some alien life form.

What you're hearing is the very space age sound of the minke whales.

Ah, so, what? Whales talk to each other?

Some do, yes. Kind of.

They don't have vocal chords like us, but they make these sounds

from the larynx in their throat.

Why do they talk to each other?

They just bob around gulping up plankton.

Why the need for conversation?

They're very social animals, I guess, and like to say hello.

What do you think they're saying?

In fact, they're quite like humans.

They also breathe like us -

not through their mouths like some other marine animals,

but through their nostrils which are located on their backs.

How come they don't drown like we would?

They have a specialist skill called free-diving.

Their lungs aren't enormous,

but they're really good at soaking in air,

so when whales take a deep breath...

..they fill their lungs up with loads of oxygen,

so each breath lasts longer.

How come they don't get water up their nostrils?

Like the sea snakes, they can shut their nostrils off

so they don't take in any water before they do their deep dives.

They've been found as deep as 140 metres!

Wow! That's as deep as the height of the Millennium Wheel!

Isn't it weird how trees in the mud and deep diving whales

can be linked because they both breathe in the same way?

I know! Mangroves and minke whales

are connected because they both

breathe air, not water.

Ah, look, it's Flipper!

Dolphins are so cool, for many reasons. They swim brilliantly,

they're great divers,

but they also have amazing hearing, ten times better than us.

What?

I said, ten times better than us.

-Wow!

-Very funny.

Why do they need to hear so well?

They send out sound, or sonar clicks

that are bounced back when the sound hits an object.

That's how they navigate.

That's weird. We've got to try it.

Uh-uh-uh! Uh-uh-uh! Uh-uh-uh!

Uh-uh-uh!

Hrrrrhh! Hrrrrhh!

Uh-uh-uh! Uh-uh-uh!

Hrrrrhhh! Hrrrrhhh!

Uh-uh-uh! Uh-uh-uh! Uh-uh-uh!

-This isn't working really, is it?

-No, not really.

Shall we get a cup of tea?

Uh-uh-uh-uh!

What does that mean?

Two sugars, please!

So, not as easy as it looks, eh?

Everyone loves dolphins,

but few people know just how multi-skilled they are.

They're super-duper intelligent.

Yeah!

They can swim fabulously fast, flip fantastically in the air

and totally talk,

plus have brilliantly breathtaking breathing methods.

Don't they breathe through that blowhole?

No, it's like a giant nostril and as the dolphin breathes out,

the air can leave the nostrils at speeds of over 160 mph.

What? That's the speed of a racing car!

Yeah, because like us, getting water in their nostrils

would mean they'd drown,

they have powerful muscles that close the blowhole

and they dive under again.

They must do this quickly. They're constantly up and under.

A dolphin can empty and refill its lungs

in less than a fifth of a second.

That's literally in the blink of an eye!

We're going to cut to a picture of me blinking!

Our delightful dolphins are linked to our magnificent minkes

because they both have nostrils

on top of their heads to breathe.

OK, let's take a look back over our breathing connections.

Now, imagine being almost completely made of water

and breathing throughout your whole body, like our soggy jellyfish.

For me, nothing is as weird as our bottom breathing sea snake.

I mean, he can hold his breath really well, too,

but bottom breathing?

Hang on a sec.

BURBLING

No, doesn't work for me.

And my bum's a little wet.

But, at least sea snakes are discreet about it,

unlike the sea cucumbers. Those guys have got no shame.

At least they have lots of water,

unlike the poor mud lobster who has to build mud pies

to be able to breathe.

What about our weird air breathing trees?

-They've got snorkels as roots.

-Oh, yeah!

Or the even weirder muddy mud skipper who has little water storage tanks?

Let's not forget our mega-divers - the minke whales,

and their cousins the dolphins.

-They breathe out of their backs!

-Wow! But, hang on a second -

what about us humans?

How do we breathe underwater?

-I feel like Catwoman in this!

-Well, then, that would make me Batman!

We are dressed like this for a reason.

We're not lucky enough to be able to breathe underwater.

Our lungs aren't designed to do that.

So, we get a bit of help from our very own special air supply -

attached to this jacket. If you could put it on, Gem.

I'm going to give you something very special now.

That is your regulator. That means that you can breathe underwater.

NOISY BREATHING

Brilliant! I sound like Darth Vader!

Last one in is a moray eel!

Oh, hang on a sec! Oh, wait! Gem, that's cheating! Hang on!

That was amazing! I actually felt like a fish!

I think I am a fish!

-Were you wondering why we didn't come floating to the surface?

I did, but I'm thinking these weight belts helped us.

They did. When we breathe in, our lungs fill with air and we move up.

When we breathe out, we expel air and we sink.

We use these weights to keep us at the same level as the fish.

But not just the weights, we also have to use this very clever device.

It looks a like a life jacket, but it's a buoyancy control device

and it helps you float by pressing the blue button to fill it with air.

Then you press the top button, the black one,

to expel all the air so you can sink.

A combination of weights and the BCD

helps us to stay at the same level as the fish.

What's the connection?

Our connection is with dolphins - we both take air from the surface

and take it under the water.

The only difference is how we use it.

Dolphins hold their breath. We breathe using these scuba tanks.

The connection is

we both breathe air.

OK, who's next?

So, how do fish manage to stay afloat and move around?

They don't have a buoyancy control device.

Well, they have their very own internal BCD.

It's called a swim bladder.

Ah, so, we're wearing all the scuba diving gear to copy what the fish do.

-For the most part, yeah.

-Ah!

Their swim bladder is like the BCD we're wearing.

It lets the fish hover and swim effortlessly.

Their bodies are made of solid muscle.

Without this swim bladder they'd sink like a stone.

But, hang on, who pumps up their BCD?

Well, that's the thing. You see, they control their BCD with gas.

When they increase the gas, they rise a bit

and when they decrease the gas, they sink a bit.

Hang on, so they use gas, like, that kind of gas?

Not quite, but, yeah, it's similar.

Urgh! Thank goodness we've got one of these!

I know, if you did one in your wetsuit, it would never escape!

Oh, hang on a minute!

-PARP!

-Oh, ho!

That's been in there for hours!

So, fish are linked to scuba divers

by buoyancy control.

Meet the hawkfish.

Aww, he's very pretty. Is he likely to swim any time soon?

Nope. Despite being born a fish, he's not been blessed

with the ideal equipment to swim off with his fishy friends.

But, he looks relatively normal.

Well, he is, except for his lack of a swim bladder.

That means it's really hard for him to swim,

so he tends to pick a branch of coral to perch on

and watch the reef go by.

This is one of his relatives, the arc eye hawkfish.

So, he has fish scales, fins and all the rest,

but he can't swim very well? That's weird.

That's how important buoyancy is in the ocean.

Most marine animals have something to help them get around,

but there's the odd fellow like this

with nothing to help him stay afloat.

It looks like he's got a hawk's eye view of the reef to me!

Ha-ha-ha!

What an odd pair, though.

We've got one fishy floater and one that sinks like a stone.

Swim bladder is the connection

between the cardinalfish

and the hawkfish.

Our next sea oddity is a cephalopod.

A whatalopod? Are you sure it's alive, by the way?

A cephalopod? Ah, yes, it's alive.

His relatives have been alive for more than 400 million years!

Huh?

400 million?

Wow! What kind of moisturiser does he use? He looks great!

This is a nautilus. One of the ocean's most ancient creatures.

It's very weird, and you still haven't told me

-what cellophane-pod is.

-A cephalopod!

-Yes!

It means head, foot. They're molluscs.

Soft, squishy animals whose heads are attached to their modified feet.

I can't make head or foot of that!

Ha ha! Well, it's all tucked into the shell and they do have a head

because that's where their eyes are.

They don't look like they've good eyesight

bobbing around like that.

It's amazing these guys can see at all.

For starters, they're very old and could probably see

before anything else could.

Secondly, they can live up to 600 metres deep.

Wow! They look a bit like spacemen bobbing around!

They're moving gases around their little chamber shell to keep afloat.

Eh?

Well, that's charming!

Clever use of gas, though.

With their ingenious use of gas,

and a clever bit of jet propulsion, they can journey quite far.

Our space-like nautilus and clumsy hawkfish are connected

by their lack of a swim bladder,

and connect back

to our first big breather,

the potato cod,

because they both have gills!

From bottom breathing, to trees with snorkels,

breathing in the underwater world is both mind boggling and bizarre.

-Hey, shall we do this last Reefcap in one breath?

-In one breath?

-Yeah!

-The whole lot?

-Yeah!

-OK, yeah.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

What a collection! It's enough to take my breath away.

We started in a logical place with the fish.

They breathe through their gills. Easy.

They make it look cool, unlike eels who have to gulp to breathe.

It looks like they're always talking.

Then you've got the magnificent manta rays.

They show off with ten gills and cool moves.

The squat lobsters are always twitching

to push the water over their shell gills to breathe.

Like the barnacle. With a similar technique,

he breathes through his feet. I hope they don't smell!

There might be lots of wobbling,

but jellyfish don't even have to try!

They just soak the oxygen up through the water.

Our snake is an easy diver, but he can also breathe through his bum.

Not as much as the sea cucumber, though. He's a proper bottom gulper!

-Gross!

-Well, it's not his fault.

He might not be the cleanest critter around,

but I reckon the mud lobster has most fun with his mud mansions.

Well, he is living in exclusive mangroves where trees don't grow

from the soil, but through snorkel-like holes in the roots.

A breathing tree! It's very Lord Of The Rings!

Mud skippers don't think twice about leaving the water

to play in the mud.

Minke whales take a deep breath

and dive down the height of the Millennium Wheel.

That is free diving!

Then there were the diving dolphins,

with their one giant nostril.

Humans have tried, too, but nature does it better.

We have to use breathing and buoyancy aids

to help us swim with the fishes.

We just don't look as cool though, do we?

At least we don't rely on our own gas to keep us afloat.

I wouldn't want to get too close to the cardinalfish

with his big gassy bladder. Ooh!

The alternative is no transportation at all.

The poor hawk-eyed hawkfish can't move very far and has to sit there

and watch the world go by!

Unlike the ancient yoyo-like nautilus. They bounce up and down

because they have their very own gas filled shell chamber.

A bit like jet propelled spaceships!

Whoo! What a line-up! Give me some air!

So, something we take for granted like breathing

is a different ball game for our ocean creatures.

I know! From extreme breath holding

to trees that breathe, they certainly show us how it's done.

And as for the sea cucumber breathing out of his bottom - how weird!

BURBLING

Actually, Barney, how did you manage to do all that in one breath?

And what are you doing?

Umm, nothing!

I wasn't trying to breathe like a sea cucumber or anything.

I was just playing in the water, me. That's all I'm doing.

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