Original air date: 13 February 1979
Going back to the water following a different line of evolution, fish.
The outline above shows how dominant bony fish are in the episode, all but the first few minutes are about them. Below is a more detailed timeline of the programme
Selected sequences
Living at the boundaries of water and air
The four-eyed fish has TWO sets of eyes, one pointing upwards in the air and the other one facing down into the water (2’48)
The deep
The part about the deep leads to great sequences like those of the flashlight fish (38’50-40’05) where special light sensitive cameras and a bit of illumination (right) were used.
Where meals are few and far between
The gulper is practically a swimming mouth (above, 38’20-38’25). The more the stomach can grow the wider the choice of prey will be (bottom, 38’33).
Fish usually need electricity to get around because the surroundings are too murky for visibility. Filming is such conditions would obviously be harder than needed so undoubtedly the sequences (41’35-44′) were filmed in an aquarium. Nevertheless the images are not as clear as usually.
The left image has arrows showing a rod meant to pick up signals from the eel and (the left arrow, points at the eel itself). The image on the right shows an eel swimming about. It is slightly murky but still not as bad as in nature.
Filming locations
The following locations were given in the episode:
1- Mouth of Severn in England (7’40) searching for fossils of ancestral fish
2- Kimberly Ranges in Western Australia (8’30) searching for signs of what shorelines of ancient earth was like
3- Lake Magadi in Great Rift Valley (45’30)