Titan Triggerfish Aggressively Defends Coral Reef | Wild Thailand | BBC Earth
An over abundance of crown-of-thorns starfish and long-spined sea urchins can be damaging for coral reefs. Luckily, there is a renowned defender of the reefs ready to take them on...
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Wild Thailand
Go beyond Thailand's beaches. Wild Thailand reveals a sacred kingdom of awe-inspiring beauty. It takes in the towering limestone cliffs, the paddy fields, the hidden temples and the teeming city of Bangkok, before visiting the forests of the north. Each episode is packed with wildlife. While full moon parties get underway on the beaches of Ko Pha-Ngan, a dazzling light show takes place on the island's reefs. In Bangkok, we meet the animals that have made this urban environment their home.
Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of entertaining and thought-provoking natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.
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Trigger fish: "Perfectly balanced. As all things should be."
Chiroyli
Circle of life
Thanos the Mad Titan...Triggerfish
*sips tea*
Then comes a hooman with a harpoon gun 🔫.
What a roller coaster of emotions in less than 4 minutes. Presentation, calm, we learn about the characters... Then a combat to the death, tension, and then... Love and family. But with possible dangers around. Cliff-hanger. Fantastic 10/10.
I rate the movie 6 starfishes out of 14 urchins
You been outside lately?
@@rinzzart 8 out of 10 cats?
@@blucat4 nah he's just your common easily impressed peasant
Nature documentaries be better than Hollywood
We need more of them, not just in the sea but in land too.
True we need em to eat some porcupines
Insinuating natural selection by annual murder?
the fish?
@@anonymousmonkey9491 yeah, someone once said "never judge a fish by its ability to climb tree"
@@forcetune4632 instead, I've heard of "don't knock it till you -try- taste it."
That fish has nicer teeth than some humans I know.
No refined carbs for him :-)
bri'ish fish
Especially the Brits.
This bucktoothed dorkfish is over here having a family while some of us can't even get chicks to talk to us.
We always hear about how intricate the ecosystem of a coral reef can be but love hearing everything explained.
they’re wrong en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature
Sea Urchin : minding his own business Triggerfish : I have been trying to reach you about your extended spine warranty
While diving in Thailand i was taught to freak out and keep away from them. It's nice to understand now that despite being so agressive, they're playing such an important role in the ecosystem.
you shouldn't "freak out", you should mind their territory and know how to handle them if they attack
Im 1000% sure your diving instructor did not tell you to "freak out" making your story less believable
To the person that said 'making this story unbelievable' - I just dived in Thailand and truly honestly believed I was going to die when I was chased from the bottom to the top by titan fish circling me and lunging - when I finally made it back to the boat my dive instructor said, sorry I didn't mention titan fish can attack you - it was my first ever dive and I had been in the water for no more than 5 minutes - truly the most terrifying experience of my life - but also one of the most increidble !
@@springwater9981always swim away horizontally from those guys, then youll be out of their territory
Lol, I can relate...my Instructor and my dive buddies pranked me with this fish...at the time it was mating season when they were so aggressive, I saw one biting corals and I was like "this fish kinda familiar" so I swam closer to get a good look, while my Instructor signalled my two buddies to stay back and watch me...as I got closer, the fish suddenly turned to me and dashing towards my face, I panicked and backpedalled like a stupid flipped turtle... luckily it didn't chase me further. When we ascended to the surface, the three of them bursted out laughing at me. I was so embarrassed. 😭 Later on I learned that their aggressive territory is shaped like a cone with the tip at the nest, as long as you're swimming outside the cone shape, they won't attack you.
I dived a reef in Egypt in 1990 when I was 20 years old, I'd always loved watching documentaries but when I experienced it for real I fell in love. I've dived all over the world but returned to that reef in 2010 to experience it all over again. When I went we swam out to the reef and dived, now there were three large dive boats with their twin diesel engines running the entire time I was there. When I went under to the reef I actually found tears running down my face under my mask. The reef was 90% dead compared to when I last saw it. The other divers were raving as they had never seen the Red Sea how it was and thought it was teaming. When I went the first time I could barely see the reef for all the colourful fish so 10% seemed a lot to other divers but ut broke my heart completely.
Indeed, very, very depressing. You're lucky to have seen it at all.
@@slvshy666 - Yes, I was just making the point that back in 1990 it was pristine and in just 30 years of commercial diving and other activities I guess it is 90% dead. I dived other reefs in the Red Sea and saw similar dying.
@@AnyoneCanSee oh I know, I share your disappointment in the situation. I've never been diving and am admittedly a bit scared of the ocean but it's depressing what we're doing to the planet and each other. Honestly thinking about humans in general, more often than not, depresses me.
@@slvshy666 - I share your feelings and it is easy to become despondent when looking at man's disregard for nature and inhumanity to each other. However, there are also many fighting back and even countries are now waking up to the consequences of our treatment of the environment. If you can swim it is worth facing your fear of the ocean. There are places where you can snorkel in calm blue waters close to the beach. My ex could not even swim and I took her on an experience where you wear modern versions of old diving helmets. So you can stand under the water breathing in the glass helmet and see everything around you and feed tropical fish. We did that in the Philippines. You are not very deep so even if you panicked you can get to the surface easily. Another ex could swim and I convinced her to take a two-day dive course so we could dive together in Key West. She loved it and you are always well looked after and safe. Visiting a reef is like visiting another world. An entire different ecosystem. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
@@AnyoneCanSee the old fashioned diving experience sounds really cool! I definitely think I'd be interested in that lol. Thanks man I know I come off 110% pessimistic but I have a lot to live for in this life so I don't let it get me down. But I truly hope mother nature can bounce back from what we've done. I hope we can turn a lot of things around.
Wonderful filming. What a star the Titan triggerfish is, helping to save the reef !! Saw them in the red sea, respect their territory unless you want chunks missing out your fins 😮
I heard via via of a story where a diver lost a small chunk of his skull. They said he could stick his finger in the hole caused by the powerful bite. Cant verify if the story is true but, I spoke to a diveguide who got bitten in the hand and he said he cant bend his thumb anymore since. Saw the scars to prove it.
Y so spikey
Nature (that we can identify as the whole biological creation) is the most advanced and astonishing thing in Universe
@@cupidok2768 , divers shape their hand like a pistol to warn fellow divers. The pistol trigger, moving your thumb, referring to the dorsal spine that goes up when they are excited.
@@deHakkelaar1 the starfish is spikey
Now that's the titan we wanna see rumbling under the ocean
Tatakae!!!
Jaw Titan
TATAKAE
@@thebookreader287 Unfortunately, the Japanese and Koreans only remember this TATAKAE, kzhead.info/sun/g5WwhsqCnKpmoI0/bejne.html , over Shingeki no Kyojin-Attack on Titan.
“IF I LOOOOSE IT AAAALLL!”
surprised they got this close to nesting titans... they have attacked me for way less than this lol
Im surprised they got this close to british people
@@carmenwinstead6798 they say if you come into contact with them they’ll try to turn your country into a colony
@@carmenwinstead6798 So sad that those fish are colonized which is why they couldn’t attacked, the British empire trying to reclaim their throne 😢
Read my name
Cameraman can't be harmed
Not to nerd out for a minute, but this little food chain is the inspiration for several Pokemon! Mareanie is based on the crown of thorns starfish I'm pretty sure, and they are the natural predators of Corsola, the coral Pokemon! And then Bruxish, which is kinda like the Titan triggerfish here, preys on Mareanie! I just think it's neat to figure out how those games mimic real-world zoology and ecology :)
What's important is that all of that needed to be said...
That is cool.
I love corsola thoo 😩😍
@@tomatodamashi someone being happy about learning something is definitely more important than whatever pessimistic drool falls out of your mouth!
Fellow marine biology enthusiast :)
2:08The Titan Triggerfish didn't even bother to eat the starfish. It just spat its chunks out of disrespect.
it s not its fault, fishes cannot pay respect to anything or anyone. They don’t have an F key.
Just imagine the amount of technology, patience and skill that have gone behind making this video. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
@Meeko - hasn't seen grass since 2020 true...but the Triggerfish's activities wouldn't have been captured without superior camera work & technology. ☺️
@Meeko - hasn't seen grass since 2020 impressed by both the Triggerfish & technology dear. ☺️
@Meeko - hasn't seen grass since 2020 hahahaha...well said "pouring water into the ocean". I agree. 😀🤝🏼
@@samratchattopadhyay3057 it is coo, but, simply a drone underwater. I love the robots with cameras they put up in random areas though. Good watches.
Just gopro camera 😅
Scuba Diver 1: There’s a shark over there Scuba Diver 2: Cool! Scuba Diver 1: There’s a titan trigger fish over there Scuba Diver 2: EVERYONE OUT OF THE WATER!!
why worry about sharks
@@lambdadelta8172 almost all sharks know you're not food if hye see the scuba gear.
Nature has its way of keeping everything balance and taking good care of itself.
Definitely, and it can take a lot for that balance to be upset.
I'm agree with you
@Tech Priestess Micaela For sure; and those changes towards balance can effect the land itself. Take a look at what happened after the wolves in the Yellowstone area were killed off by humans. The ungulate population (deer and elk) exploded and changed their behaviour patterns, feeding in one area until there was nothing left to eat, instead of staying on the move because of a primary predator (coyotes weren’t much of a threat). The gradual destruction of trees and brush drove away most of the bird and small animal population, and increased erosion so much that water routes like rivers and streams changed course. This led to entire areas becoming barren. Nature changed and adapted extremely dramatically until wolves were reintroduced, and once they were, the swift and restorative change back to what the overall plant, land and animal diversity once was, was just a dramatic. It’s a perfect example of a trophic cascade involving the food chain.
@@kiddfaith4397 Which makes me wonder... Can humans replicate that ecosystem for other planets? We will have to leave Earth one day, and sadly, even the human race is not ready nor prepared to leave Terra. ... I suppose everything has a purpose but we must realize the end in order to begin. Without doing so. We become blind to the short nature of our time. Thus begins our self extinction once more. (By "our", I don't mean just the human race. In the end, is it truly fair that everything must cease to function at the final hour of time?... I believe there is a way out of this cosmic illusion, but everything must last long enough to reach the End. Beyond flesh and stone. The grand world can be whole once more. No longer divided, no longer separated, and I can finally rest in peace, knowing that this dimension can exist beyond fracture... ... ... Although, maybe this dimension was never meant to be the One. Then I must move on. I won't have time to burry the souls of this dimension after it ends. The other paths must begin even when it means that apocalypse has arrived, the eradication of existence itself.) ... Not that this world is concerned about it. It isn't their life who will witness what I mean since their time is already sealed...
Until humans exist
that sea star was obliterated by the triggerfish 😮 he even spits the crushed remains 🤣
My favourite moment! 😄
Other sea creatures will happily clean up the remains.
this is not cruel since the fish was not aware that eating this creature would kill it 👌
Props to the divers brave enough to be in the water with these fiesty fishy’s
agreed, these fish basically have metal cutters in their mouth. combined with their aggressive territorial behavior, divers should stay away from them unless they want to end up ith a missing digit or a hole in their body.
During a snorkeling outing many years ago my group happened to see one....and immediately gotten their asses out of the water 😄
@@eisenklad You are highly unlikely to lose a finger. Although their bite does contain a poison so it should be treated. You just keep your eye on them and maintain a horizontal distance from their territory. It's really not that big of a deal. What's interesting is that their territory is an inverted cone from their nesting ground (where they are aggressive) to the surface. Most divers make the mistake of trying to escape vertically to the surface (which is still in their territory), when really you just move a few metres horizontally and you're fine.
I've come across a few large ones in Mauritius while diving there this year....none of them attacked me.
@@falconi786 I heard that the females tend to be the aggressive ones when they are protecting their young. Of course we won't be nosey enough to find out if she has popped out some babies huh
Trigger fish: “Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.” Humans: *”We’ll see about that.”*
They protect the reef and are great parents, how wonderful is that 🤩
If only all the world could appreciate just this one moment of perfect balance ... where would we be then?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature
There is no equilibrium in nature, and that is what makes our world so beautiful.
@@washemoamadah4706 There is no equilibrium? Everything in nature is about equilibrium, one thing off, one species missing and a whole ecosystem suffers the consequences
@@Criss0821 equilibrium - A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system. evolution - A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. For nature to be both in a equilibrium and in a state of evolution would mean that everyone single species on this earth would have to adapt and evolve equally, and if one single specie would gain a upper hand the system would not be in a equilibrium. If a single organism would go extinct it would be proof that the system have been in a state of disequilibrium. There is no perfect balance, or we would simply not exist. Your thinking about natural ecological balance, and that is something completly different.
@@washemoamadah4706 that's a very literal way of taking the meaning of equilibrium, plus it is a word that can apply to a lot of things
I love the underwater world, it strikes with its mystery, it's a different world, it's like another planet. I also shoot the underwater world when I can.
No
Yes
Omg their teeth looo human
@Alex Robinson By shoot he means filming I guess
I'm glad that you get a chance to film underwater. I do the same. It has many challenges, but I love it as I'm sure you do. I think I'm getting a little better with time.
How very interesting! Not only the part about the thorny devils, but the fact that they protect their eggs as a couple 🥰
It's nice to hear that even the crown of thorns and sea urchins are important species for their ecosystems
For the coral reef they are the real tooth fairy.
Yes
Yes
I wasn't prepared for this level of violence 😳 fish's got teeth and knows how to use them 😲
When ure diving and see this dude, u better stay out of it cuz it’s territorial
saw that one lower tooth first and thought damn what an underbite.
@@RachelG1979 those things will chomp your finger clean off
I’ve seen triggers take small bites out of octopuses. Pretty cool to see the color on the angry octopus change while being attacked.
love that everything has it's own individual role in maintaining nature's balance 🥰
Wow! Finally something is helping this overgrowth of coral reef destruction.
The titan triggerfish has been doing this the whole time, my friend
@@JoveRogers97 we all should hail titan triggerfish's power!!!
You should look up "robots against crown of thorns starfish" you'll be amazed
Theres also some triton snail who eats them
Thank you BBC for this awesome footage
Titan Trigger is a beauty! The parental care for their eggs was of little surprise. Anyone who has kept a breeding pair of cichlids in an aquarium is fully aware how dedicated a pair can be.
I never knew these creatures existed but the footage is amazing! Very cool video!
Coral reefs are absolutely worth saving!
No
@@sublimeade yes
@@MissLisaBabyx nope
@@sublimeade yes
@@eddydiyartcraft6780 ys
True to its name, this titan of a fish gets triggered, specifically by urchins and crown-of-thorns starfish.
Everything in nature has its job to do and it’s completely fascinating.
"aggressively defends corral reefs" also Tigerfish : *eyeballing 360°*
I love the little flute trilling while the mother is flapping her fins lol
Titan trigger fish when it finds a sea urchin: TRIGGERED
Triggerfish are my Heroes Thanks BBC for all the Wonderful teaching protecting you all do for our World
BBC Earth, YOU'RE A TRUE LEGEND.
É com cada vídeo mais incrível!! Os corais são tão belos e uma diversidade de peixes espectacular ...Este casal intrinsecamente ligado para a futura descendência e continuar a cuidar e defender os corais em vias de desaparecerem!! Esta beleza tão importante é colorida que dá vida ao oceano ...Que seria do planeta sem oceanos vivos?!!?
Bunda
I've had an adult triggerfish come at me and it was terrifying (was surface swimming and didn't realize we had crossed over a nest), but they're mesmerizing when you give them space
Her voice is so soothing. I can listen to all day.
Love it, can’t tell you how many times I talk about the coral reef through my art. So important! 🤗
My heart skips a beat whenever I see a crown of thorns or a lion fish destroyed❣️
Galati
I love titan triggerfish. What a personality 😁😁😁
I love how he starts to carefully break the needles and then proceed to furiously destroy the urchid.
That fish be like ' you picked the wrong house, fool! '
"What should we call it?" "Idk, it's got funny teeth..." ... "Did that fish just look angry to you?"
Saw a lot of them in the red sea. Everyday I would see maybe from 3-5 titan triggerfish sometimes even more. I filmed them when they were pretty close to the camera and never got attacked by one but they can be territorial for sure. I remember first time visiting Egypt and there was one spot and there was a huge one. Me and my mom were snorkeling and my dad was just swimming and he got to his territory and he attacked. He told us after we came out of the water and at that time we didn't know what could it be and then I remembered that there is the big triggerfish so I looked it up and found out that it's a real thing that they attack humans. Nothing happened to my dad but he said that when he bumped into his leg he thought that his knee is going to get dislocated. Rather watch out for these guys. When they bump into you full speed it's not going to be very nice. They definitely aren't the smallest in the ocean they get up to like 75 cm and I'd say that the one that was on the spot was maybe 65-70 cm so it wasn't a small one.
I hope those fish get preserved, they play an important role in the ecosystem ❤
Thank you for your service sir
I wish more BBC Earth content was available in Canada
I can only recommend getting a VPN (some are 1$/month) and watch some stuff on their website. The new series "green planet" is incredible.
Nature is amazing
Nature is not an entity with a will and creative force. The Creator is.
you are wrong in my religion, Nature is God, it created the universe and let it develop on it s own. I hear people say that Nature is cruel. But it gave us consciousness. That’s enough to be infinitely grateful.
Thank you x
Beautiful fish and ocean.thank from Thailand sir🙏🇹🇭
Remember being chased by Titans numerous times in the Red Sea whilst inadvertently swimming over their nests. Scarier than any shark
I didn't know triggerfish is also a COT predator. Interesting to know that giant tritons aren't the only ones naturally capable of managing COT population
Naturally things will evolve to exploit thEm as a food source because of the over abundance. It’s just how evolution works
Also- I’ve heard that unless the whole thing is destroyed, even a single arm can regenerate into a new star. Is that true?
@@nokiot9 Not entirely sure if this is true. I think there's a specific organ in a starfish (as a species) that when destroyed, they'll die but if not and a limb is cut off, it can regrow?
@@nokiot9 I've seen videos of a starfish (no idea which kind specifically) ripped off it's own limbs, grew another one, and in some instances; that limb had enough to grow an entirely new starfish.
@@mayasarmonia3257 true the limbs can regenerate
Information and visuals like this tickle my brain. In a good way ❤
Long live to Titan Tigerfish.
1:52 "damn what happened here"
This video really shows how everything is interconnected and interdependent. We need to protect every level life on the planet.
Not only a reef warrior but exceptionally beautiful appearance too
I’ve had a few run ins with Titan trigger fish over the years! 😃
On the behalf of Thai people, I apologize for the mention of pollution our country did to the nature. I just wish people do care more about nature before it’s out of balance and too late to bring it back :(
Titan trigger fish: well hello sea urchin Sea urchin: chilling Trigger fish teeth: *your free trial of spike has ended*
The music and commentary is so soothing 😌
Can we just talk about how strange this fish looks with human-like teeth? Its somehow unsettling
Look up Sheephead fish.
Incredible 💙
Garoyib
He was right all this time. thank you Mad Titan for protecting the coral reefs.
Great vid. That change in music made ME fear the triggerfish.
Nature really has many ways to balance herself
Ajoyib
that’s a myth sadly. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_nature
Wikipedia is indeed the sharpest fact checker : « The balance of nature, as a theory, has been largely discredited by scientists working in ecology, as it has been found that constant disturbances leading to chaotic and dynamic changes are the norm in nature.[5] During the later half of the 20th century, it was superseded by catastrophe theory and chaos theory.[6] Nevertheless, the idea maintains popularity amongst the general public. » Thanks for sharing
here the ecosystem has been profoundly changed by human pollution. It increased the amount of starfish and thus of triggerfish. And it will probably lead to more unpredictable serious changes in the ecosystem. Life is resilient tho.
I love the way their fins move 😍 so unique never see Anything like it before
I use to call him The king of the reef in Koh Tao Thailand💚I love the Titan
It's a true to life Dorkfish! Thank you Bill Engval!
I encountered one in Palau at the turn of the century. I had no idea there was such a thing, and it was the same dive that I first experienced nitrogen narcosis. That was a wild dive. A week later, a friend of mine encountered one in a spot not very far from where I saw one, and it perforated his first stage hose between the regulator and the pressure gauge - dive over. Thank God he was only 60 feet from the surface.
thank you travis
Glorious shots
One time I took a pretty gnarly bite from a trigger fish, it even drew blood! I can definitely empathize with those starfish!
We need more of them put on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and everywhere else that reefs are being killed.
The narrator doesn't seem to notice this. However, @2:00 and onward, we see the triggerfish KILLING the coral-eating, 'crown of thorns' strarfish. We see the triggerfish actually SPITTING-OUT mouthfuls of the starfish; NOT EATING IT, but killing it! Somehow, the triggerfish KNOWS that this starfish is eating its habitat. Amazing how nature works to keep a balanced ecosystem.
I love super colorful fish like these guys.
My new fav fish 🤩 looks so tough lol
Hehehe looksnso derpy. Dangerous but so derpy
awesome fish, but such jerks when they are nesting... been diving for 20 years and they are among the very few creatures i actively avoid.
Dis is 100% my new Favourite Fish.
one of the many heroes of the reef
Those trigger fish have a unique method of propulsion. They don't even need to use their pectoral fin or wiggle their bodies to move through water.
The sepia tone coral reef hurts my heart. How sad what we've done to this planet.
That is their natural color. They fluoresce only under UV, which there is little of at any depth.
@@JordiRFernandez Just look at any underwater documentary from the 90s, and you'll see a noticable difference. I'm an aquarium keeper. I know what corals look like under UV. That's not what I'm talking about. kzhead.info/sun/qsaHla2maqiMfoU/bejne.html
Bencede çok üzücü.insanların yapmış oldukları zulümlere bu dünya nasıl dayanıyor.çıkarları için yapmıyacakları kötülük yok.Kuranda Rabbimiz hep haber veriyor.onlar kendilerini ilah edinmişlerdir,dünyada hep fesat çıkarırlar diyor.Aslında insanlar Kur'an'ı hayat düsturu edinseler Dünya yaşanılır bir yer olurdu.İslam güzeldir.huzurdur.dünyadaki yanlış İslam algısınıda bu kötü niyetli insanlar çıkarmadımı?
OMG when it started chomping the sea urchin I was taken aback, wasn't expecting that
So much beauty beneath us...
Incredible underwater world ! 💙 ....some fish can fly (Exocoetidae, they can glide in the air just above the water) and Trigger fish are amazing cleaners with powerful teeth, and can bite horrible painful a snorkeling human, when entering the breeding ground.... 😁 Thanks, great BBC Earth 🙏
Basically everyone loves coral reefs except us polluting, destructing humans
🤦♀️
Trigger fish is like a fearless security guard
Amazing!
Wow what an amazing animal!!
animals that used to be foreign seem more familiar now
What a stunning fish wow
My Hero
Goofy ah fish 💀
Wish if those tigerfish also attacked humans who destroy the coral reef.
They do