Banner image

Documentaries (1 Viewer)

infinityends

infinityends

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2014
Messages
879
Location
Crystal, MN
Just caught a very cool documentary on Mantis Shrimp on Nat Geo - Killer Shrimp

So I'm curious what other interesting Coral/Fish/Invert/Reef documentaries others have seen or are aware of. Wouldn't be surprised if something like this existed somewhere in the forum history.

I've looked around the web a few times and found a handful, but most documentaries I have found in the past are dumbed down a bit for general public. Understandably.
But I'm always left wishing it was more in between the level of a Bio lecture and a typical documentary.
 
On Netflix, there's...

Oceans
Deep Blue Planet
Discover Planet Ocean
Aquarium for your Home: Saltwater Reef (not a documentary, but still nice to have on in the background)
 
Kevin Lake said:
On Netflix, there's...

Oceans
Deep Blue Planet
Discover Planet Ocean
Aquarium for your Home: Saltwater Reef (not a documentary, but still nice to have on in the background)
Click to expand...

Definitely some good episodes in those series. I've watched through them.

Although I can't remember off the top of my head if I have looked through Amazon Prime Video as well as Netflix
 
A really good overview of the biology of reefs (Caribbean reefs in particular) is an old video called City of Coral. The narration, the background music, and the pace seems old by today's standards, but speaking as a biologist I think it is one of the best videos on corals and coral reefs I've seen. I've used it in my classes at times (particularly as an introduction to reef and associated ecosystems in the marine bio course we used to teach in the Fl Keys some years back). Again, it might seem a little slow, but the information content is good, and it was written and produced by actual biologists.

And it turns out someone has uploaded it to YouTube:

[video=youtube;VTBhU7Mx1cg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTBhU7Mx1cg[/video]

I see here that this was part of the NOVA series (I had forgotten that). This was back when NOVA programs were generally really good (in recent years NOVA seems to have a lot more fluff, and sensationalism, and such).

Another marine-related video I really like for its biological content is Life at the Edge of the Sea (from the Nature series), which deals with coastal marine biological communities in the Pacific northwest. If you find this online somewhere please let me know (my copy is on VHS tape).

And, also from the Nature series, Incredible Suckers is a great video on cephalopods. Very nicely done. Here too, I don't know of online copies to view, but let me know if you find any.

And, though this is not about marine creatures, possibly the most beautiful and most well-done nature video of all time is Jewel of the Rift, from the National Geographic Heart of Africa series. This tells the evolutionary and ecological stories of the diverse assemblage of endemic cichlids (and some of the other fish and other animals) in Lake Tanganyika. This is superbly done, and it was created in collaboration with some of the world's foremost experts in these fish. I know of two copies uploaded online (on YouTube or Dailymotion - I forget) - unfortunately one has good video and bad sound, and the other has mediocre video quality but good sound. I have this on VHS tape. It is a WONDERFUL video!
 
Last edited:
And anything produced by (not just narrated by) David Attenborough is almost certain to be truly wonderful. For example, this video clip about engineer gobies:

[video=youtube;gTlPFG6_Ly8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTlPFG6_Ly8[/video]

(I don't know whether he was just the narrator her or in charge of this video series as well, but this is great.)
 
capman said:
And anything produced by (not just narrated by) David Attenborough is almost certain to be truly wonderful. For example, this video clip about engineer gobies:

[video=youtube;gTlPFG6_Ly8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTlPFG6_Ly8[/video]

(I don't know whether he was just the narrator her or in charge of this video series as well, but this is great.)
Click to expand...
+1

David is amazing!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top