I'm jeremy wade — biologist, angler, and explorer.
It's now 30 years ago
That i hunted down my first river monster.
And in that moment,
My interest in underwater creatures
Became an obsession.
Since then, my quest has taken me
To rivers and lakes all over the world...
Back, back, back, back.
Including some of the most inhospitable places
On the planet.
Oh!
Now it's time to take
That unparalleled and hard-Won experience
And apply it to the vastness of the oceans.
A domain still with no shortage of mystery.
Like the terrifying report that recently surfaced
From one of the east coast's
Most popular vacation destinations —
The florida keys.
Something, it appears,
Is terrorizing this coastal paradise.
I want to find out what it is
That's attacking both visitors and people who grew up here,
Who know these waters well.
And what is it that's triggering these attacks?
But i don't think it's going to be easy.
— captions by vitac — www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
Kari larson and her boyfriend, michael,
Are kayaking through the maze of islands
Which make up the florida keys.
It's an area they're familiar with,
Having visited here countless times before.
Suddenly, something explodes out of the water,
Knocking kari from the kayak,
Smashing her ribs, ripping her open,
Leaving a gaping hole in her side.
Aah!
Blood pours into the water.
The blow has punctured her lung.
Kari survives.
But the horrific events of that day
Have taken their toll.
It was completely out of the blue
When it hit me and lifted me up
And tossed me five foot from the kayak.
I was — i didn't know what happened.
It was over in seconds.
We had just seen some sharks.
So both of our thought was to get her out of the water
'cause she was bleeding.
So whereabouts, exactly, did it hit?
It's right here. So, that — oh, gosh.
So that is — that is the...
The teeth just ripped the skin.
The nose and snout exploded the rib underneath it.
A fish which can torpedo itself out of the water
Is something i know about.
13 years ago,
An arapaima struck me in the chest.
Later tests suggested
It might have permanently damaged my heart.
But arapaima can't be guilty here.
They're a freshwater species from south america.
Kari was attacked in seawater
In a channel near big pine key in the florida keys,
A chain of 1,700 coral islands that extends over 100 miles
From the southern tip of florida
Splitting the gulf of mexico from the atlantic ocean.
What on earth could it have been
That caused such horrific injuries to kari,
Injuries that could very easily have been fatal?
Clearly something fast, heavy,
And was it teeth that cut her open,
Or was it just the sheer force of the impact
That broke the ribs,
And then it was the rib that punctured the lung?
And whatever it was, it was out of the water.
Michael and kari reported seeing sharks
On the day of the attack.
And i've investigated attacks in florida before...
Yeah, that's hung on.
Where it turned out
That bull sharks were responsible.
Sharks always bring a shadow of suspicion.
But kari's injuries are not
The unmistakable signature bite of a shark.
I start fishing in shallow water
Where kari was attacked.
I want to start getting an idea of what carnivorous fish
Live in this water close to shore.
The thing is, it's very shallow.
We've got about three foot of water, something like that.
Um, nice, sandy bottom,
It's actually very inviting water.
The kind of water you might want to jump in and swim in.
Prior to putting a line in,
I'm gonna put some chum in the water
Just to see if that smell and that commotion
Actually draws anything in.
We've been here, i don't know, less than 5 minutes,
And there's two lemon sharks
Already right next to the boat, 10, 15 feet away.
More than two.
Sharks can detect a single drop of blood
In a million drops of water.
Although not to the same extent as bull sharks,
Lemon sharks can survive in freshwater.
They grow up to 10 feet long
And have been known to attack people.
Coming towards it. Coming towards it.
Here he comes. Here he comes. Here he comes.
Oh, there was hardly any resistance on that at all,
But there we go.
That's what that shark just did —
A clean bite out of the back of this fish.
And you can see the individual tooth marks.
Just... That happened in a fraction of a second.
Like it or not, sharks bring baggage.
Two behind it. Two behind it.
If any shark is at the crime scene,
Its alibi must be rock solid
Before you can find them not guilty.
With the lack of teeth marks on her torso,
I'm quite sure it wasn't a shark that attacked kari.
But even so,
I wouldn't want to fall in this water right now.
It's got the whole thing, got the whole thing.
The whole thing.
I'm trying not to — oh!
Trying not to get pulled out of the boat here.
It's got the whole thing and not letting go.
I'm making sure i'm well and truly wedged here
Because this fish is...
Right.
They're actually still circling.
But, um, i think i've seen enough.
I was wanting to know
What carnivorous fish there might be
In these shallow waters offshore.
And there are lots of sharks. There's a lemon shark.
Sounds sort of quite friendly,
But the damage they were doing to some of these bonitos
In just a fraction of a second —
Huge lump, you know, couple of pounds —
Two or three pounds of flesh, removed just like that.
Looking at the evidence so far,
Kari's injury is clearly not a shark bite.
And these sharks didn't jump out of the water,
Even when whipped into a frenzy.
So what did it?
Having disturbed that site,
I move a little way down the coast
To get a hook in the water.
Choosing what to put on the hook
Is as much an art as a science —
A mixture of experience and intuition.
I start off using artificial lures
Designed to attract the attention of sight hunters.
When the water hits that, it tips the nose down,
And it dives down a few feet.
And then while it's doing that,
It's wiggling nicely, as well.
So i'm gonna just throw this off the edge of the mangroves.
By retrieving the lures quickly,
I'm hoping to grab the attention
Of any predators that might be down there.
There's a bit of a drop off there.
It goes from shallow groundwater —
That's what i landed in just then —
Into deeper, blue water.
And i'm trying to sort of drop the lure
Along the edge of that
Because that's the kind of place
Where predators are going to lurk.
When the artificial bait draws a blank,
I switch to real fish flesh.
Oh, yes.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's serious.
Wow, that is serious.
That's lots of line.
Right.
This took a fish.
So it's a predator.
And from the rate it's going, it's quite a good-Size one.
You're gonna follow this.
This is just not stopping.
Gonna need some line back.
They're having to use the boat.
If we don't keep up, i'll run out of line.
Um...
Oh, it's outrunning the boat now.
I'm in the florida keys
Investigating what could've leapt out of the water
And sliced open a kayaker.
And i've hooked something
That's big enough to drag my boat.
Unlike in most rivers, this water is so clear,
I'm forced to use thin, almost invisible line.
And the lighter the line, the easier it snaps.
The runs are getting slower or shorter.
I can see the clear leader now.
Yes, there it is, a shark.
An 8-Foot bull shark.
The triangular dorsal fin and stocky body
Are unmistakable.
But just as i get it close to the boat...
.It bites through the wire leader.
Bull shark, a well-Known inhabitant
Of these shallow, warm coastal waters.
I've caught bull sharks before,
And part of me is relieved it released itself.
Bloody hell!
This is gonna break the gaff.
It's gonna break the bloody gaff.
That's definitely one that if you happen to be
In the wrong place at the wrong time,
It could make a very nasty mess of you.
That's two locations now,
And each time, i catch sharks.
Both lemons and bulls are toothy predators,
Easily large enough to break ribs.
But as far as i know,
Neither species can jump clear out of the water.
And all sharks leave
An unmistakable dental signature.
Yes, this big around.
I head back to port to talk to local fishermen
To find out what else is out there.
It's then i hear of a second attack
On a guy named bill murray.
Bill is working in his dock.
He's cutting off some reinforcing bar
That's jutting out from the dock wall.
A half-Hour later, he climbs out.
I wasn't in any pain or anything.
And i looked down at my foot,
And in the center of my foot,
There was two streams of blood coming out.
It was down to the bone.
Bill's foot has been sliced clean open,
Like a knife attack.
Could it be that creatures from the open ocean
Are hunting in these man-Made canals?
The type of wound often gives a definitive clue,
But this injury is like nothing on my radar.
So, what was the water clarity like?
And what time of day?
The water wasn't crystal clear by any means.
I would say it had about 10- Or 12-Foot visibility.
So anything like this that you're aware of
Happen in this area before? No.
Still to this day, no.
Could the same creature
Be responsible for the attacks on bill and kari?
Both were attacked
In shallow water close to the shore
With the light fading...
Which is when many large predators start to hunt.
I'm at the spot where bill was attacked
At the same time of day.
Maybe whatever went after bill is still down there.
There's actually lots of fish down here.
I'm remembering a gruesome detail i learned
While river fishing for pacu in papua new guinea.
Tribesmen there who were once cannibals
Told me that human flesh tastes like pork.
So for a fish that's attacking humans,
I'm using pork as bait.
I stir up the bait fish,
Hoping to attract something larger...
But nothing.
So, low-Light levels, poor visibility —
I think whatever bit bill
Mistook his light-Colored foot for a fish.
And whatever it was,
It had to be a pretty serious size.
It had half of his foot in its mouth.
Now, i've looked in the water up and down here,
And i can't see anything bigger
Than the bait fish that he was describing.
So, what on earth could it have been?
Whatever attacked bill
Has not been seen in the canal since.
So perhaps, it has now moved back into the open ocean.
The next day, i head into unfamiliar waters
And start applying what i know.
In rivers, predatory fish like to hunt around structure.
And one common form of structure out here
Is the many boats that have run aground
In these shallow, tidal waters.
We're drifting by this wreck here
Because it's the kind of place
Where you might get predators lurking,
Using that as a sort of, uh —
You know, a background to hide against.
Oh, there we go.
I am in the florida keys,
Investigating two gruesome incidents,
Trying to discover what is attacking people
In these shallow, coastal waters.
And i have a bite.
That's a long, streamlined fish.
Is that a baby barracuda?
Those are big teeth on a small fish.
Good heavens.
My first barracuda.
There's no doubt about that being a predator.
Long and streamlined — that helps with the speed —
Big tail, and that sort of mirror finish.
Actually, in open water, that is really good camouflage.
The other thing that's very obvious — big eyes.
So, no doubt that this thing's a sight hunter.
But i am just drawn to those teeth,
Even on a small one like this, those are wicked teeth.
They seem to be pointing backwards,
So anything that gets in there and tries to pull away,
It's actually just gonna sink those teeth deeper.
I've never caught a barracuda before,
And i've not heard of them jumping out of the water.
But if they do,
One this size would not have the power
To knock an adult out of her kayak.
I need to see what a bigger barracuda is capable of.
So i head to deeper water to find a larger wreck.
So, we found more structure.
There's basically quite a big wreck
Under the water here.
And based on what i know so far,
I'm now working a lure across the wreck.
My casts yield nothing,
So i fish deeper and switch from lures to bait,
Which i drop around the wreck.
Oh, oh.
Oh, there's one after it. There's one after it.
Here we go, look.
So i had a bite, but nowhere near the hook.
It actually took half of the fish.
So this is what barracuda does,
Just clean bite through the flesh.
The fact that you got something that size
With teeth like that in this water —
Lovely, clear water, nice sandy beach over there,
Looks all quite benign —
But stuff like that in this water.
I try again with another whole bait fish.
Oh, oh, there — there it goes.
No, it's the same again. Look at this.
Um, look at this.
Uh, this is — this is carnage.
That wasn't a hook-Up.
Seeing that, you know, you really appreciate
That you don't want to be anywhere near those teeth,
Whether you're a small fish or even a person.
Could those teeth be what caused the injuries
To kari and bill?
I need to find out more about barracuda.
There's an inner row of large teeth.
Barracuda expert dr. Evan d'alessandro,
Of the university of miami,
Talks me through their hardware.
So, it not only cuts through the flesh,
It cuts through — just cuts through the bone as well?
Flesh, bone, and everything.
Based on the skull size,
We're looking at a five-Foot barracuda.
I mean, these ones in the front are interesting,
Aren't they? 'cause at first sight,
They look as if they've just got a point.
But they've actually got a...
There's a blade on the leading edge, isn't there?
Yes, and that's very characteristic
Of a barracuda attacking something.
It's very precise
And almost surgical in the way that it cuts its prey.
And also, at high speed, they can actually cut
Without the barracuda even doing much biting action.
Just by ramming something, they can actually cut it.
That explains the clean slice on my bait.
And i wonder whether it also explains
The slice on bill's foot.
I was talking to somebody who was in one of these canals
Doing some work to his dock. Mm-Hmm.
He's just getting out of the water.
His foot is about two or three feet under the surface,
And something hits it.
Is this a possible candidate?
I'd say it's a very high likelihood
That it could've been one of these
Because his foot dangling in the water
Probably mimicked a small fish.
And the barracuda probably saw that as prey.
One tooth with a sharp edge moving at speed,
It's just gonna — yes, absolutely.
I ask about the attack on kari.
There was a woman i was talking to
Who was kayaking in the mangroves.
Something leaves the water
And then impacts the side of her chest.
It broke a rib, punctured the lung.
Is barracuda a possibility for that?
Barracuda can jump when they're chasing their prey.
So even if the teeth don't actually make contact,
The fact that you've got that mass and that momentum
And you've got that pointed shape,
That if that impacts you,
Even that can cause a lot of damage?
Absolutely.
So at last,
A big predator that can jump clear out of the water.
To underline his point,
Evan tells me about another bizarre incident.
John zeliff was fishing with his buddy.
Nothing could've prepared them for what was about to happen.
They've hooked something big, and it's taking off at speed.
Suddenly, it does a 180,
Heads straight towards the boat
And leaps out of the water, straight at john.
The barracuda's razor-Sharp teeth
Slice through his arm, right down to the bone.
I track john down in key largo.
I really thought that i was gonna die.
You don't realize how fast they come.
I mean, it must've been coming 30, 40 miles an hour.
Because it jumped out of the water from 30 feet away,
And it was on top of me
Before my brain could process what was happening.
So, at that point,
Alls i could do to keep him from hitting me in the chest,
Was put my arm up
And just deflect him off of me.
Well, it's now clear to me
That barracuda could have carried out the attacks
On both kari and bill.
The question is, though,
Do they really get big enough
To knock somebody out of a kayak
And smash their ribs?
Barracuda are fast, explosive predators
Armed with three rows of razor-Sharp teeth —
Two rows in the upper jaw and one in the lower.
They are said to grow to six feet in length
And weigh 100 pounds.
But can barracuda get this big
In these shallow, coastal waters?
That is what i need to find out.
Having spoken with evan
And caught the juvenile barracuda,
I know these visual hunters are fast,
Both in the water and out.
Time to adapt my fishing and catch one big enough
To knock a woman out of a kayak.
I suppose a big difference
Between what i'm used to — freshwater — and this,
Is that, you know, the saltwater tends to be more open.
So it's all a lot more about speed.
So small fish, if they're in open water,
They're gonna be, often, traveling fast.
And if you're a predator, you keep an eye out for that,
And you travel faster.
So my lure needs to behave like a fleeing prey fish.
Despite there being hooks on there,
You can, sort of, drag it out through the shallows,
Can keep it just in the top few inches.
Suddenly, i see a barracuda sweep in.
Oh, yes!
Find out right after this.
Before the break, i asked...
It's thought to be of spanish origin.
"barraco" is catalan for "snaggletooth."
I'm in florida trying to find out
If barracuda grow big enough in these coastal waters
To knock someone out of a kayak.
- Ah! - Oh!
It's thrown the hook.
Well, it was exciting.
Well, what happened there was, um,
It was a barracuda hit
Very soon after the lure hit the water.
And what i've been trying to do
Is get to the point, get my casting
So that as soon as that lure hits the water,
I've got a tight line to it and it's moving immediately.
If you don't do that,
If it's dead in the water for even a fraction of a second,
It's gonna clock that it's just a piece of plastic.
Ugh, i thought that was well-Hooked, that.
Off we go again.
So they're here, anyway. We found them.
Oh! Good grief. That was a big one.
That fish, there, i mean, my heart is still going.
It was pretty close to the boat.
And, um, probably 41/2-Foot long,
25 pounds, something like that.
I saw the head. I saw this black head,
And it looked like the head of a dog
Coming out of the water.
Well, i've certainly came close
To hooking up with some big fish.
But don't know.
They just seem very, um, very skittish, very canny.
And it's not just happening —
You know, there is a fish down there
With my name on it.
But i'm not quite sure yet how to catch it.
I'm thinking, what i need to do now
Is get in the water.
Now, in a river,
This would normally be a waste of time,
But here, the water's clear.
And what i really want to do
Is have a look around some of these wrecks
And hopefully see a big barracuda.
I'm hoping that if i can see how they attack,
That's gonna help me figure out how to catch a big one.
But it's not gonna be easy.
Top predators tend to be suspicious,
And they're hard to get close to.
So, i'm gonna be going into underwater stealth mode
Using this closed circuit re-Breathing unit,
Which doesn't give off clouds of bubbles.
So in theory, i'm gonna be able to get
Much closer to barracuda.
But this is a trade-Off,
As re-Breather diving is highly technical.
Unlike normal scuba diving,
This bubble-Free system is computer-Driven.
So if something goes wrong,
The results could be catastrophic
Unless i take action.
But if i'm to get my quarry,
Then i most go the extra mile unnoticed.
The u.S.S. Spiegel grove is a 510-Foot warship
Which, after decommissioning, was sent to a watery grave.
It's now an encrusted metal reef
In 135 feet of water.
It's a maze of rooms and corridors
Ideal for ambush predators like barracuda.
But this makes it more dangerous for me.
Eight divers have died on this wreck.
Some lost their way inside and never found their way out.
Barracuda have been known to attack divers,
Their teeth tearing through dive suits
And into flesh.
The visibility deteriorates the deeper i go.
Barracuda!
Suddenly, it heads off into open water...
Which is when i spot them massing above me.
Perhaps they are gathering to protect themselves
From a larger predator that i've not seen.
Suddenly, i'm surrounded by thousands of razor-Sharp teeth.
I'm in the florida keys
Planning to dive with barracuda.
I'm hoping if i can see how they behave,
I can figure out how to catch a big one.
I put on chainmail gloves,
Protection against a fish that shows no fear
And that is literally armed to the teeth.
Then i head down with a bucket of bait
To draw in the fish that barracuda eat...
And start chumming the water,
Wondering what is lurking out there.
Does it intend to attack my bait or me?
This fish is wary,
Assessing the danger before striking.
Oof.
That's what must have happened to bill's foot.
Now it's time to put this experience into practice
With rod and line.
I head out with skipper brad nowicki.
He was born in the keys, so knows these waters well.
So how big is this wreck we're going to?
Uh, this one is one of the biggest wrecks we have.
And do you tend to find
That, you know, the bigger the wreck,
The bigger the fish? Yes.
So if i'm after big barracuda,
I mean, this should be a pretty good wreck?
This should be a good wreck to be on.
Right, just having a good look
At the gear i'm gonna be using.
It's scaled up a little bit
From what i was using on the flats.
But you can't go ridiculously heavy
Because in clear water, fish with good eyesight,
They can see, sort of, you know, wire cable.
It has to be quite delicate.
And what we're gonna try and do,
'cause there's lots of sharp bits of metal down in the wreck,
What we're gonna try and do
Is bring the fish up off the wreck.
And then once they're hooked,
Don't let them get back down.
Once out of port,
We travel southeast from key west
To where the shallow coastal waters
Drop off into the deeper ocean.
Well, we're here. This is the wreck.
Not that you would know it.
As with all open ocean fishing,
The surface gives little away.
Without brad, i would never have known
That a 500-Foot wreck is only 40 feet below me.
While diving on the spiegel grove,
I saw barracuda hanging out above the wreck.
So i'm trying to position my bait there.
My goal is to hook one large enough
To knock someone into the ocean and break bones.
There we go, something there.
This time,
I can picture what's happening under the surface.
Within seconds,
Something's running with my bait,
And it feels big.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
I'm fishing for barracuda.
First cast and there's something big on my line.
Where is it? Where is it? Where's the line?
There it is.
There's the fish.
- Watch your thumb. - Exactly.
So...
Oh, this fish has still got so much strength.
First cast, straightaway on this deep wreck,
So it just goes to show, more water over their heads,
Just how much more confident they are.
Those teeth are just unbelievable.
I'm very careful to stay clear of this fish's jaws.
Nice-Sized fish,
But i think what i really want to do is get this back.
I'm after a big one.
Get this back, get another bait out.
See if we can get one,
But might even have this one for dinner.
Size matters.
I'm here to prove that barracuda
Not only have the equipment
But also the sheer weight and power
To commit the attacks i'm investigating.
I quickly hook another...
And another even bigger.
Ah.
You know, everything stabs and everything cuts.
If you're on the receiving end of that,
Very, very bad news.
The barracuda just keep on coming,
Each one bigger than the last.
Aah!
Fast and furious action.
I feel like i'm casting into the pack of barracuda
I saw while diving.
Oh.
There's a better-Sized one.
Here we go. Ah.
Um, just one after the other, these fish,
And look at the size.
It's not just about individual big fish.
These are all serious-Sized fish.
And they seem to pack, more or less,
In fish of a similar size.
But i still don't feel i've caught one
Capable of smashing somebody's ribs open.
Then, something nearly pulls the rod out of my hands.
It was going deep, which had me a bit worried.
This one feels different,
Definitely bigger than the others.
I don't know if this is a barracuda or...
It's feeling, possibly, slightly different.
I hope it's not a shark.
Aah.
This feels like a good-Sized fish.
I'm guessing it's about 30-Foot down.
And i'm struggling to bring it any nearer to the surface.
Ooh, it's still hanging.
You can see the leader.
So there's the fish.
There's the fish.
There it is.
It's the proof i needed to see with my own eyes —
A huge barracuda.
The size of this...
It's been...
I've been thinking i've been catching big ones,
One after another after another,
And along comes this.
No, those aren't big ones. This is a big one.
It's just unbelievable.
The teeth, the power, the streamlining —
This would absolutely lacerate a limb.
And i reckon one like this —
At speed, out of the water, hit you in the side —
Perfectly possible this could break your ribs.
It's a tired fish as well.
I want to get it back in the water.
I came to florida in search of a creature
Capable of inflicting life-Threatening injuries.
And it wasn't the shark that most would assume,
But another of the ocean's super predators.
It rams its prey at speed
With teeth that slice at the merest contact.
But perhaps most remarkable,
It can do this both below and above the water.
I know that barracuda
Don't deliberately target humans,
But these high-Speed predators
Slice through the same warm, shallow water
Where people play.
So in the florida keys, i'm now very wary
Of the other jaws below the surface.