05- Conquest of the Waters

Original air date: 13 February 1979

Going back to the water following a different line of evolution, fish.

An outline of the fish episode. As the grey area indicates the main emphasis is on bony 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

Fish episode. 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)

More episodes

01- The Infinite Variety
02- Building Bodies
03- The First Forests
04- The Swarming Hordes
06- Invasion of the Land
07- Victors of the Dry Land
08- Lords of the Air
09- The Rise of the Mammals
10- Theme and Variations
11- The Hunters and Hunted
12- Life in the Trees
13- The Compulsive Communicators
Series in retrospect