Blue Planet II: from octopus v shark to fish that crawl, the series ’s biggest discoveries

The documentary ’s marvels are not just new to television – many are new to science as well. From hyper-intelligent fish to the origin of life itself, we round up the series’s breakthrough momentsIt is testament to the number of spectacles packed into Blue Planet II that a giant wrasse ’s strategetic change of gender is – scientifically speaking, at least – one of the least remarkable. Changing gender, or sequential hermaphroditism, is a fact of life for more than 400 species of fish, andhas already been widely studied.But many of the programme ’s marvels are new not just to television but to science itself. Some have only been published within the past half-decade; others existed only anecdotally until now. Here we track some of the most astonishing findings of the series.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: David Attenborough Marine life Zoology Television & radio Culture Factual TV Documentary Wildlife Environment Animals World news Conservation BBC Science Biology Source Type: news