River Monsters

Red-bellied piranha

Jeremy Wade journeys to the heart of Brazil, following reports in which a bus crashes into the Amazon River, and all the passengers are eaten by a pack of red-bellied piranhas. He investigates this and other stories in order to determine if the piranha really deserve its reputation and what exactly triggers a feeding frenzy. During his trip to remote regions of the Amazon river basin, he finds out that the bloodthirsty piranha is just as predator as prey. Finally he hears a chilling story about a child fallen into the river and after a few seconds, only the skeleton was found. He finally uncovers the truth that piranhas really can be dangerous to humans, but usually in the dry season when other food is scarce.

Featured animals

Mugger crocodile

Jeremy arrives at the Kali River in India, where a number of mysterious drownings have occurred. He investigates the possibilities of the culprit being whirlpools or crocodiles, but determines neither fit. Wade eventually finds out of a little-known catfish species that can grow to human size or bigger, the goonch, also known as the giant devil catfish. He reasons that, since funeral pyres are done at the shore of the river, the fish feed off the burnt human remains. This would allow them to reach man-eating size, as well as giving them a taste of people. Jeremy then must face off against a large goonch, which may prove there are monsters of these species ready to eat people. When going after this fish Jeremy spends weeks trying to catch it, but the time eventually came when he had to take a risk and catch this elusive fish. This was the first ever episode of River Monsters to be made, but it only became a "Bonus episode" on the Region 1 DVDs and never released in the UK. Probably this is because the idea of making a whole series on monstrous fish came after shooting this episode (as explained in the 2014 special "Killer Mysteries").

Featured animals

Alligator gar

Jeremy travels to the Trinity River in Texas, USA to discover the truth behind the alligator gar, a massive predator blamed for horrifying attacks on people. Reports claim this fish is more dangerous than a man-eating shark. With huge jaws and two rows of needle-sharp teeth, the gar proves an elusive opponent. Throughout the years this fish was in the centre of humanity's misunderstanding. Large populations were killed by electric gar destroyers all around the country, bringing this huge animal to near extinction. Bowfishermen also kill this fish with spears (leaving the fish to die in painful ways as seen in some internet videos), but Jeremy wants to catch one gar alive and release it back safely. Finally hooking a large gar, Jeremy finds out once and for all if the alligator gar deserves its reputation as a river monster.

Featured animals

Wels catfish

The wels catfish is one of the largest catfish in the world. Medieval reports claim it is an aggressive man eater that will swallow people whole, even small children were found in one's stomach according to a legend. After new reports surface of attacks in Berlin, Germany, Jeremy Wade dives deep into the mystery of these fish. He finds out that these giants attack when they are protecting their nests in the breeding season. His investigation later leads him to Spain, where a group of catfish were introduced into the warm watered Rio Ebro. Numerous factors led to these creatures taking over the ecosystem and possibly growing to man-eating size, for example because of the fishermen's 'catch and release' policy. There, Jeremy finds that these river monsters have no fear of man, and faces a potential maneater.

Featured animals

Arapaima

The Amazon has a huge amount of river monsters. Anacondas, caimans, piranhas and jaguars all call this place home. Years ago, Jeremy Wade travelled here looking for the arapaima, a 10-foot long fish that has been known to ram predators with the force of a car crash. The trip resulted in Jeremy feeling the full force of one of these blows as one arapaima's tail hit his chest. Now Jeremy has returned to Brazil to once again face off against this fish and determine if the arapaima deserves to be on the Amazon's already large list of monsters. Journeying to the few spots where fishing for these fish is allowed, he encounters an arapaima farm where the fish do something surprising. Jeremy then hears stories of the Amazon's other killers, the caiman. He searches for these, as well as a mysterious legend with its roots buried deep in folklore. Then, after finding the perfect spot, he finally comes face to face with the legendary giant, whose body could become a living missile.

Featured animals

Redtail catfish

Following a report of a fisherman swallowed whole, Jeremy travels to South America in search of the Amazon's largest catfish, the piraíba. Arriving there, Wade not only tries to catch this monster, but discovers that it belongs to a whole family of Amazonian killers. He catches as many catfish species as he can to prove that these whiskered predators really are the ultimate monsters of this place. His mission is to try and catch the three largest catfishes until he encounters with the smallest ones. He finds the candiru, a tiny blood-sucking catfish that has entered a man's body in the most horrifying of places, and the candiru-acú, a catfish that swarms around and drills holes in dead or dying animals, including humans, eating them from the inside out and leaving only the skin and bones. Discovering the horrifying deeds of these fish only pushes him even further, until he faces off with the giant head of the murderous catfish family, 'the mother of all catfishes', the piraíba.

Featured animals

Bull shark

Sharks are perhaps the most dangerous and feared of all fish, but these predators are confined to the oceans. Or maybe not... The bull shark, the most dangerous and aggressive shark, has been known to swim miles up rivers. Jeremy follows reports of attacks in rivers near the most populated shores of Australia to find out why and how far these fish swim upstream. He traces the trail of blood left by these monsters from bays and lagoons to rivers, until he finally zeros in on the lair of these sea monsters. After seeing the evidence that these predators can even attack race horses and drag people underwater in completely fresh water, he realizes that he faces a creature even deadlier than a great white shark. While fishing for one, Jeremy finds something even more shocking and terrifying than a fully grown shark.

Featured animals

Goliath tigerfish

Jeremy travels deep into the jungles of the Congo in search of a little-known predator that may be the most terrifying monster of all: the fearsome Goliath tigerfish. This creature combines everything that made all previous river monsters deadly, and even more. Growing to 6 feet long with the jaws and teeth of a crocodile and an attitude of a shark, this beast is covered in armor plating and thick muscle. Basically a giant piranha, the tigerfish is believed to be responsible for gruesome deaths on humans, both in and out of water. The search for the elusive tigerfish pushes Jeremy to his mental limit as he uses everything he knows as a fisherman, as well as some luck from a witch doctor, to find this terrifying monster and uncover the truth behind a number of violent attacks. After several unsuccessful bites, he finally lands a true monster, but then he enters a dilemma to share this fish with the locals or let it swim away.

Featured animals

Giant freshwater stingray

Jeremy Wade ventures to the Mekong River in Thailand to find what may be the largest freshwater fish: the giant freshwater stingray. Armed with a 10 inch, venom-coated barb, this fish grows to 16 feet long and its venom has no known antidote. Unlike most South American freshwater stingrays (which usually don't get very big and deadly), this creature is a true monster. This behemoth can nearly glue itself to the bottom of the river, and once Jeremy hooks one, it may be his biggest challenge yet. In this adventure he also meets other giants of Southeast Asia: the gentle Mekong giant catfish, a close relative of the well-known iridescent shark. The giant barb he caught in this trip only appears on some photographs made during filming, but not in the actual episode or the extended cut.

Featured animals

Northern snakehead

Journeying to Florida in the US, Jeremy encounters the invasive bullseye snakehead, which were introduced to the state from Southeast Asia. With razor-sharp teeth and the abilities to breathe air and "walk" on land, these aggressive predators soon spawned numerous rumors of being man-eaters. Proving to be incredibly violent and vicious, Wade gets to the bottom of their monstrous rumors, only to be unconvinced of their lethality. That is, until he learns of another species, the giant snakehead, which is reported to be the largest and most dangerous of all the snakeheads. Meanwhile, he travels up to Illinois and gets a taste of how much of an impact an invasive species such as the silver carp can have on humans. Arriving at Khao Laem Dam along the River Kwai in Thailand, Wade uncovers stories of attacks, one being fatal. With no luck in reeling one specimen in with a line, he then dives deep into a murky river right in the middle of a school of young snakehead, hoping to find their murderous parents.

Featured animals

Marbled lungfish

Jeremy Wade travels to the Congo once again, the only river to ever defeat him. He had once travelled there, only to catch nothing. Now he's back, investigating reports of fishermen being dragged to their death by a malevolent river spirit. Wade suspects the Suni or Vundu catfish and the Kamba catfish, which are known to grow to large sizes. But he begins to wonder if there are any monstrous sized fish out there in these waters. While staying with local villagers, he faces their superstitious beliefs because they blame his arrival for the disappearance of the chief's brother. Even mosquitoes are deadly here. In the past, Jeremy nearly lost his life to malaria. After using traditional Congolese fishing methods, hearing of how one fisherman died, and finally facing a catfish, Jeremy begins to wonder if the real danger isn't the fish itself.

Featured animals

White sturgeon

Deep in the Alaskan wilderness, Lake Iliamna is supposedly the home of a monster. Reports claim it grows 20 feet long and is responsible for the disappearance of many fishermen. Investigating the identity of this creature, Jeremy faces cold-water fishing for the first time during the series. He investigates the possibility of the monster being a pike or a beluga whale, but none would match the description. Wade then tries to find out a possible food source: salmon. This results in the first salmon he has on the end of his line, only to have it stolen by a bear. After hearing an eyewitness' encounter, Jeremy is able to determine the identity of the culprit: a white sturgeon. These fish grow to 20 feet long and are known to leap out of the water, which could result in people going missing. Fishing for sturgeon, Wade soon faces what may be the biggest fish he's ever caught (although this episode was shot before "Death Ray", which features his biggest catch in this season).

Featured animals

Nile crocodile and Nile tilapia

In the heart of Africa's Rift Valley, lives the Nile perch, Africa's largest freshwater bony fish. Growing to more than 6 feet long (according to some fishermen's photographs), this fish is considered a prize and is what many people brave countless perils to catch. Jeremy travels to the birthplace of humanity and the oldest and most dangerous fishing spot he ever visited to find this legendary creature. He faces off against deadly crocodiles, even deadlier hippos, and killer gangs to find the perch, and is amazed at the daily dangers people face every day in order to catch this fish. He then takes on these perils, even risks his life in order to land a monster perch.

Featured animals

Bull shark

One year ago, Jeremy Wade was investigating the bull shark in Australia and caught a small pup, proving that the sharks were breeding in the local rivers. Around the same time, a group of scientists in South Africa made a shocking discovery: the largest bull shark ever caught, and it was found in a river. Now the team is back on business, and they've brought Jeremy with them in hopes of finding out if this was a horrifying fluke, or if the sharks have made the river their homes. Jeremy discovers that the largely populated river is full of sharks, yet nobody has ever been attacked. Wade realizes the reason why these fish are in this river as well as why there have been no attacks, and lands two of his biggest catches yet.

Featured animals

Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle

Jeremy arrives at the Kali River in India, where a number of mysterious drownings have occurred. He investigates the possibilities of the culprit being whirlpools or crocodiles, but determines neither fit. Wade eventually finds out of a little-known catfish species that can grow to human size or bigger, the goonch, also known as the giant devil catfish. He reasons that, since funeral pyres are done at the shore of the river, the fish feed off the burnt human remains. This would allow them to reach man-eating size, as well as giving them a taste of people. First he must enter goonch territory, when he faces smaller individuals in a national park and film them underwater with a professional assistant. After catching smaller ones, Jeremy then must face off against a large goonch which may prove there are monster goonch ready to eat people. Believing to have proven his point, he prepares to leave. Casting his line one last time, Jeremy hooks an even bigger monster and has a brief encounter with what may just be the Kali killer. This version of the episode was never released in home media. Not featured animals in the original episode: golden mahseer, Indian narrow-headed softshell turtle, gharial, South Asian river dolphin, Indian flapshell turtle.

Featured animals

Giant grouper

Jeremy Wade tells of the most dangerous of all the river monsters he's ever faced from the previous seasons. He relives the most gruesome, terrifying and shocking encounters with these creatures.

Episodes featured

Featured animals

Red-bellied pacu

Deep in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, two separate deaths have attracted the media: two men were found to have bled to death in the Sepik river as a result of a "ball cutter" attacking villagers. Jeremy Wade travels to this unexplored river to uncover the creature responsible for the savage attacks. While fishing for a possible food source, Wade makes an unusual discovery. A pacu from the Amazon river. These fish are related to the piranha and are from South America, where they use their strange, almost human-like teeth to actually crack hard-shelled nuts and fruits and eat them. Jeremy makes a terrible discovery about the seemingly-placid red-bellied pacu living in the Sepik. These animals here can actually have a taste for human flesh.

Featured animals

Featured animals: New Zealand longfin eel

New Zealand longfin eel

Featured animals: short-tailed river stingray, speckled piranha, tiger surubi, golden dorado

Argentina's Parana River, home to the short-tail river stingray

Featured animals: freshwater sawfish, bull shark, barramundi, saltwater crocodile, black mangrove crab

Largetooth sawfish

Amazon river dolphin

Recalling an encounter with a mysterious animal he sighted on the Amazon river, Jeremy Wade relives his encounters with the world's most bizarre freshwater fish, and reveals the identity of his mystery creature.

Episodes featured

Featured animals

Featured animals: electric eel, black piranha, Bigtooth river stingray, redtail catfish, marbled swamp eel, common trahira, fidalgo.

Electric eel

Featured animals: Japanese giant salamander, Chinese giant salamander, Chinese/Japanese hybrid salamander, giant Lake Biwa catfish, Amur catfish, tiger pufferfish, turtle

Japanese giant salamander

Gray reef shark

Featured animals:fringelip mullet, gray reef shark, crocodile needlefish

Featured animals: giant wolf fish, redeye piranha, redtail catfish, common trahira, black piranha, spectacled caiman

Giant wolf fish

Featured animals: bull shark, Atlantic tarpon, Atlantic Goliath grouper, alligator gar, longnose gar, American paddlefish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, channel catfish

Bull shark

Jeremy Wade has travelled all over the world looking for killer freshwater fish. He has been down the Amazon, deep in the heart of Africa, in the murkiest swamps, in the Alaskan subarctic, and everywhere in between. But are there dangerous killers lurking in the lakes and rivers of the United States? Travelling to Florida, Jeremy once again encounters the bull shark, a species known to swim in freshwater, which he has faced before in Australia and South Africa. Bull sharks are believed to have been responsible for the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, which inspired the 1974 novel Jaws. Three of the five attacks that occurred took place in a freshwater river. Following reports of sharks prowling the freshwater canals of Florida, Jeremy once again reels in a monster shark, as well as a little extra.

Alligator gar

Next, Wade returns to Texas' Trinity River, for a rematch with the alligator gar. In season 1, he had caught a 7-foot female gar and concluded that the fish had no interest in attacking people. Now, reports have surfaced that gar in Texas are once again reaching lengths of up to 14 feet, the perfect size for a potential killer. Having already experienced their impenetrable armour and razor sharp teeth, Jeremy follows reports of giant gar all over the Trinity, only to find possible evidence of giant gar in a very unexpected place.

Featured animals: African tigerfish, redbreast tilapia, African sharptooth catfish, African pike, great egret, Nile crocodile

African tigerfish

Featured animals: vundu, brown squeaker, African tigerfish, African sharptooth catfish, hippopotamus

Vundu

After hearing reports of fishermen disappearing in the Zambezi River in Zambia, Jeremy Wade journeys there to uncover the truth behind their deaths. He hears tales of a man getting pulled in and drowning in the rapids after hooking into a monster fish. The natives believe it to be the work of a large, serpentine fish the size of a man. They also tell Wade of a snakelike river spirit called Nyaminyami, who is angry at the Kariba Dam for blocking its river. Believing Nyaminyami to be inspired from the killer fish, he travels to Lake Kariba to find the beast. After nearly being capsized in a storm, Jeremy hears reports of small toddlers and children being eaten by the fish, known locally as "Mazunda," as well as a fisherman being dragged to the depths beneath the dam. Interviewing a witness of the "Mazunda," Wade learns of the vundu catfish, southern Africa's largest fish. Travelling all over the Zambezi, Jeremy gains access to the prohibited waters directly beneath the dam, where he finally hooks into a monster.

Featured animals: sareng catfish, golden mahseer, Asian redtail catfish, Amazon redtail catfish, Chinese seerfish, Mekong giant catfish, Asian elephant, tiger

Mekong giant catfish

Jeremy Wade's journey into extreme fishing started in India, where he caught large mahseer, and where he later caught a massive goonch that had been killing bathers. Now, he returns following reports of a new predator, capable of taking pets and small children. Looking around, he uncovers its identity: the sareng catfish, a streamlined predator with long jaws and sharp teeth. He also finds a problem: the sareng is sacred in India's Hindu religion and harming it is believed to curse you with bad luck. Almost immediately he encounters problems when the lake where he is fishing is closed and tries his luck in the wilderness of Corbett National Park, sharing the territory with man-eating tigers and wild elephants. The monsoon comes early and the fish are not biting, forcing him to leave the river. In order to escape what appears to be the wrath of the gods, he travels to Thailand to a lake inhabited by sareng, as well as countless other introduced river monsters. Despite not being a Hindu country, Thailand offers no protection from the gods as Jeremy seemingly catches every fish, especially red-tailed catfish, in the lake but the sareng. Deciding to face his demons instead of running from them, he returns to India to take part in a Hindu blessing, in order to appease the gods and convince them he means the fish no harm. Returning to the river, Jeremy finds he may have finally met his match.

Featured animals: white blotched river stingray, short-tailed river stingray, speckled piranha, gray reef shark, bull shark, freshwater sawfish

Jeremy Wade relives his most memorable encounters with deadly sharks and rays.

Episode featured

"Electric Executioner"- Jeremy reels in an unusual-looking stingray.

"Silent Assassin"- Jeremy hooks into a massive river stingray in the longest battle on the show to date.

"River Monsters Goes Tribal"- After gaining the tribe's trust, Jeremy lives his dream of reeling in a full-grown shark, with his bare hands.

"Freshwater Shark"- Jeremy discovers that bull sharks not only live in rivers, but breed in them.

"Hidden Predator"- Jeremy lands an enormous bull shark, in a heavily populated river.

Featured animals: kaluga, chum salmon, Amur catfish, Soldatov's catfish, Amur sturgeon, bearded seal

Kaluga

Featured animals: taimen, Siberian dace, common lenok, Arctic grayling, Halys viper

Taimen

Featured animals: northern river shark, bull shark, barramundi, freshwater sawfish, freshwater whipray, winghead shark, king threadfin, saltwater crocodile, black mangrove crab

Northern river shark

Featured animals: freshwater sawfish, red-bellied pacu, electric eel, New Zealand longfin eel, bull shark, candiru, short-tailed river stingray

Episode featured "Chainsaw Predator" - Jeremy goes through and gets a dangerous sawfish.

"Electric Executioner" - Jeremey finds the utuimate eel.

"Flesh Riper" - Jeremy fishes an eel in New Zealand.

"Hidden Predator" - Wade finds a camouflaged shark in Australia.

Featured animals: Japanese giant salamander, white sturgeon, sareng catfish, taimen, New Zealand longfin eel, vundu

Episode featured

"Cold Blooded Horror" - Jeremy caught a Japanese giant salamander by hand.

"Alaskan Horror" - Jeremy caught a white sturgeon

"Asian Slayer" - Jeremy encounters problems when he tries to fish for the sareng catfish, a fish sacred in Hindu religion.

"Mongolian Mauler" - Catching taimen in Mongolia is considered bad luck so Jeremy visited a shaman to appease the spirit of the river. His offering paid off and he managed to catch a taimen.

"Flesh Ripper" - Jeremy caught a New Zealand longfin eel using a technique he learned from a local fisherman.

Featured animals: giant wolf fish, arapaima, flathead catfish, giant snakehead, gray reef shark, Nile tilapia, sockeye salmon

Jeremy recounted some of his closest call with forces beyond his control that nearly turned danger into disaster.

Episodes featured "Jungle Killer" - Jeremy and his crew were struck by lighting while fishing for giant wolf fish in Suriname, Brazil.

"Amazon Assassins" - Having once being injured by arapaima, Jeremy tried to overcome his fear for the fish by helping some arapaima fisherman at a fish farm. Out in the wild, Jeremy managed to catch a giant 150 lb arapaima.

"American Killers"- Jeremey tried hand-catching for flathead catfish in Oklahoma.

"Killer Snakehead" - Jeremy travels to Thailand and hunts for giant snakehead in a murky river with his guide using a rusty hand-made spear gun.

"River Monsters Goes Tribal" - Jeremy dives into a reef full of sharks without getting bitten.

"Rift Valley Killers" - Jeremy encounters crocodile and hippopotamus while helping the local fisherman tend their fishing nets for Nile tilapia.

Featured animals: goonch catfish, piraiba catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, wels catfish, vundu catfish, sareng catfish, candiru catfish, candiru acu catfish,

Jeremy remembers some of his encounters with the catfish family over the years.

Episodes featured "European Maneater" - Jeremy investigates wels catfish where medieval accounts reported a aggressive maneater that swallow man whole.

"Amazon Flesheaters" - Jeremy catches the redtail catfish. He also find the candiru which has entered a man's body through his urethra. Finally, he investigates the candiru-acù, a small catfish that dills holes in dead or dying animals before eating them from the inside.

"American Killers" - Jeremy catches blue catfish and channel catfish at the Lake of the Ozarks.

"Amazon Flesheaters" - Jeremy catches the Amazon's largest catfish, an 80 lb piraiba catfish.

"Asian Slayer" - Jeremy investigates the sareng catfish in India.

Featured animals: laulao catfish, Barbado catfish, payara, redtail catfish, red bellied piranha, jau catfish, common pacu, giant wolf fish, arapaima, black caiman, green anaconda, Goliath tarantula

Black Caiman

Featured animals: black piranha, largespot river stingray, flatwhisker catfish, red bellied piranha, payara, speckled peacock bass, arapaima, piraiba, black caiman

Black piranha

Featured animals: wels catfish, northern pike, European perch, Volga zander, European chub, marsh tit

Wels catfish

Featured animals: Atlantic tarpon, Horse Eye Jack, Serra Spanish mackerel, black vulture, crab, shrimp, catfish, mullet

Tarpon

'Featured animals]], discus ray, thorny river stingray red bellied piranha, ocellated river stingray, cuiu cuiu catfish, fidalgo, piraiba, arapaima

Thorny river stingray

Featured animals: sea lamprey, Pacific lamprey, longnose gar, bowfin, greater redhorse, European carp, lake trout

Pacific lamprey

Wade learns of a series of attacks on swimmers in Lake Champlain and sets off to uncover the truth. After discovering countless fish in the lake bearing the signs of this ancient predator, he learns from a victim that the attacker is the sea lamprey. Unable to catch the fish using a rod and line, Wade offers himself as bait to test the lampreys' abilities and then travels to the Pacific Northwest to catch lamprey by hand with a native tribe.

Featured animals: Greenland shark, European eel, Atlantic cod, coalfish, European plaice, haddock, Arctic char, brown trout, Norwegian skate, blackmouth dogfish, Atlantic wolffish, bottlenose dolphin, Plesiosaurus, minke whale.

Greenland shark

Featured animals: redtail catfish, piraiba, silver tetra, red bellied piranha, cuiu-cuiu, candiru-acu, piracatinga, flatwhisker catfish, black piranha, black caiman, Amazon river dolphin

Redtail catfish

Featured animals: electric eel, red bellied piranha, tiger surubim, redtail catfish

Electric eel

Featured animals: golden dorado, boga, speckled piranha, spotted surubi

Golden dorado

Featured animals: piraiba, basha, redtail catfish, blinker catfish, dawala, black caiman

Piraiba

Featured animals: green anaconda, smoothback river stingray, redtail catfish

Green anaconda

Featured animals: arapaima, redtail catfish, black piranha

Arapaima

Featured animals: Muskellunge, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Green Anaconda, White Sturgeon, Bull Shark

Muskellunge

Featured animals: Fang's Puffer, Mekong giant catfish, Giant barb, Giant snakehead, Cantor's Giant Softshell Turtle

Mekong river

Featured animals: Xenacanthus, Alligator gar, Xiphactinus, Indo-Pacific sailfish, Leedsichthys, Whale shark, Megapiranha, Red bellied piranha, Helicoprion, Dunkleosteus, White sturgeon, Rhizodus, Saltwater Crocodile

Dunkleosteus

Featured animals: Pacific halibut, Chinook salmon, salmon shark

Pacific halibut

Featured animals: Giant mottled eel, giant trevally, narrow-barred Spanish mackerel, spotfin balloonfish, bull shark, saltwater crocodile

Giant mottled eel

Featured animals: African tigerfish, Blackspotted Squeaker Catfish, Humpback Largemouth Bream, Blotched Catfish, Nile crocodile, African Fish Eagle

Nile crocodile

Featured animals: Xenacanthus, Alligator gar, Xiphactinus, Indo-Pacific sailfish, Leedsichthys, Whale shark, Megapiranha, Red bellied piranha, Helicoprion, Pacific hagfish, Spotted ratfish, Dunkleosteus, White sturgeon, Rhizodus, Queensland lungfish, Saltwater Crocodile

Moray eel

Moving his quest for monster fish to the world's oceans, Jeremy Wade seeks the truth behind one of the most enduring legends of all time: the sea serpent. His search initially begins locally in his home of England with a man's horrifying story of being attacked by a conger eel while diving. However, after fishing off the British coast and catching one, Wade is able to discount the conger eel due to its lacking of common characteristics with the sea serpent. Next, Wade travels to Thailand, where the serpentine Nāga is widely seen as a deity. Using the Nāga as a base for his search, Wade learns of multiple attacks on humans by the moray eel. He joins a local tribe who traditionally hunt these eels, and though they find morays with great size and monstrous behavior, Wade is not completely convinced that the moray eel is the sea serpent. While investigating the Nāga further, Wade meets a monk whose temple holds an alleged photograph of the real-life Nāga; in an instant, his quest changes, as the picture is of a creature he had never even considered - the oarfish. Immediately seeing the similarities between the oarfish and Nāga, Wade searches for a way to encounter this rarely-seen fish, eventually coming into contact with a diver in France who encountered one during a dive. Despite the mortal risk posed by diving in the vast, deep waters, Wade attempts the dive, only to find himself unable to last underwater. As his time for ideal conditions to make the dive runs out, he decides to take a night dive and try again. During the dive, not one but two oarfish appear, coming so close that Wade can touch them. As a result, Wade becomes one of the very few people in history to witness a live, healthy oarfish.

Queensland grouper

Wade investigates the deaths of six men whose plane crashed in the northern seas of Australia, with only a single severed leg left behind on a beach as evidence. First, he looks into the most obvious possible culprit, the tiger shark, only to find that tiger sharks do not generally attack humans unless mistaking them for other animals, such as turtles. The Queensland grouper is similarly ruled out, as it is typically an ambush predator on the seafloor. Saltwater crocodiles come into focus, but they also could not be the sole culprit because they do not typically go far out to sea. Wade learns that the men actually made it to the beach, meaning whatever killed them struck on the shore, and the bodies were likely subsequently dismembered by crocodiles. He discovers a new candidate: the stonefish, a small, camouflaged fish that can deliver a deadly venom if stepped on. This could explain one of the deaths, but unlikely all six. Finally, Wade discovers the most likely killer of the bulk of the men - the box jellyfish, a nearly invisible creature with the most deadly venom on the planet. While working with a scientist who studies these bizarre and dangerous creatures, Wade suffers a minor sting but recovers to capture a box jellyfish with his bare hands.

Great barracuda

Wade travels to the Florida Keys, where an ocean kayaker was torn open by an attacker that leapt from the water, cracking her ribs and puncturing a lung. After meeting the victim, who survived the attack, he deduces that sharks were not responsible. Meeting local fishermen reveals a second incident, in which a fisherman working on his dock had his foot sliced open. Fishing in the area reveals no monsters, so Wade leaves and returns to fishing in the ocean, where he lands a small barracuda. Suspecting the barracuda may be the attacker, he seeks out further information and learns that barracuda can cut through flesh and bone with minimal actual biting thanks to their great speed and body shape. Furthermore, they are known to leap from the water and have been documented attacking people in a similar fashion to the attack on the kayaker. Wade dives to bait out barracuda in their natural environment, observing their speed and accuracy when hunting. Armed with this knowledge, Wade lands a series of large barracuda, culminating in a showdown with a barracuda big enough to break bone out of water.

Wade revisits some of his previous adventures and investigates the spiritual and mythological events behind them.

Featured Episodes:

Giant Pacific octopus

Wade travels to Andros, Bahamas after hearing stories of swimmers and divers disappearing with no evidence ever recovered. The disappearances are said to center around blue holes, including an eight-year-old boy being snatched from the surface while playing with friends in one. Locals immediately identify the attacker as a legendary monster called the lusca, an alleged giant that is said to be half shark, half octopus. Believing a shark to be the true culprit after seeing a lemon shark near the entrance to one of the tunnels connecting the sea to a blue hole, Wade joins a shark research team on a remote island. Wade manages to catch a reef shark before diving among them, then gets up close and personal with a large tiger shark captured by the researchers. However, the tiger shark quickly leaves after being released, prompting Wade to rethink his approach to the mystery. He begins to investigate the octopus half of the lusca legend, realizing that octopi - which lack bones - could easily navigate the narrow tunnels between the ocean and the blue holes, a feat impossible for a large shark. Wade travels to Puget Sound, where he meets a man who survived a terrifying octopus attack after disturbing it while picking up sea cucumbers. Now convinced that his target is a giant octopus, Wade dives to investigate Puget Sound and has a startling encounter with a Giant Pacific octopus, observing that when an octopus begins swimming instead of "walking" on the seabed, it could easily be mistaken for a hybrid of shark and octopus. This and the extreme flexibility octopi possess, potentially allowing them to navigate the tunnels to the blue holes, lead Wade to conclude the lusca legend is at least partially true and the blue hole attacks were carried out by a monstrous octopus.

Jeremy revisits some of the many scientific projects he has worked with over his career and presents new information discovered since his time with the researchers.

Featured Episodes:

Humboldt squid

Reports of the corpses of five fishermen being found with strange mutilations, allegedly caused by a mysterious sea creature, bring Jeremy to Mexico. Attempting to track down the alleged marine biologist who supposedly studied the corpses proves fruitless, but soon more stories of such attacks in the Sea of Cortez emerge. Local fishermen are unable to provide information on the initial five deaths, but describe other victims suffering similar wounds from attacks in deep trenches. Initial fishing in the trenches reveal skipjack tuna, which Jeremy uses in the hopes of finding a larger fish, however something bites the tuna and leader clean off Jeremy's line. A second tuna is sliced completely apart aside from the head, leading Jeremy to believe a shark is biting his lines, but sharks have already been discounted in the mystery due to the lack of their signature bite marks on the bodies. Suddenly, one of Jeremy's lines is taken, and he reels in a striped marlin. While marlin have been known to kill fishermen when captured, they only leave one wound, not the numerous ones reported on the corpses. Later, at the docks, Jeremy is confused by the complete lack of sharks within the fishermen's catch. A fisherman tells Jeremy that if he wants to learn the truth about the area he must visit a place described as a cemetery. The location turns out to be littered with skeletons of dead fish, and Jeremy discovers multiple mutilated shark corpses, leading him to believe that criminals may be illegally fishing for them. A local man confirms the decline of sharks in the area and claims a predator dubbed "The Red Devil" has invaded the local waters. After considering and discarding whales and manta rays, Jeremy becomes intrigued if the Red Devil may have a real-life connection to the mythological Kraken, which is sometimes described as a "devil fish." A fisherman who once tried to capture the Red Devil and was attacked by them displays a wound similar to the wounds inflicted by the puffer fish Jeremy investigated previously, then confirms that the Red Devil is indeed a squid, but then claims that they fled the area just as quickly as they appeared. Concluding that the Red Devil is the Humboldt squid, Jeremy learns that they are presently being caught in Peru. In Peru, Jeremy joins a group of professional squid fishermen. They travel for days to reach the deep seas where the squid can be found, bringing Jeremy and the crew great stress, and Jeremy's nerves only worsen when he realizes how easy it would be to fall overboard and be dragged under by converging squid. Despite his fears, Jeremy manages to catch multiple Humboldt squid, witnessing their deadly weaponry and vicious behavior. With no evidence, Jeremy is forced to conclude that the initial story of the five dead fisherman was a hoax, but the Humboldt squid attacks were very real.

Featured animals: arapaima, river stingray, black piranha, redtail catfish

Featured animals: goonch, golden mahseer, dwarf snakehead, carp, Indian flapshell turtle, mully catfish, flathead catfish