Britains Secret Seas Episode 1 May 11, 2011 by lukesheppard

I know we are a  little late coming to press on this, but I hope you watched Britain’s Secret Seas last weekend. If not you can catch up on it for the next 5 days on the BBC iPlayer The first episode covered the giant sealife that live in our western seas, such as basking sharks off the Cornish shores. Basking sharks are the largest fish to live in British waters and can grow up to over 10 meters in length. The footage of these lovely sharks shot by the BBC crew is fantastic and well worth a watch. On the way back from the basking shark expedidition the team come in contact witha  massive swarm of jelly fish. The team then shoot footage of giant spider crabs off the coast of South Wales. These spider crabs can have a leg span of over 1 metre and usually live in deep waters, but once a year they come in droves to the shallow waters off Wales to find a mate and breed. In the waters of South Wales, Tooni encounters an invading army of giant spiny spider crabs. These creatures boast a leg span of over a metre across, and Tooni reveals that they come into the shallow waters every year to find a mate. They also cover the story of the Torrey Canyon Oil tanker which is widely agreed to be one of the worst ecological disasters in british maritime history, in 1967 the huge oil container ran aground cornish coast when it hit a reef known as the seven stones, the oil that subsequently leaked out destroyed wildlife in the local area. But now 40 years on the BBC team cover its impact now. We at Simply Scuba are looking forward to episode 2 and if you missed the first episode, remember it’s available on the iPlayer.