SeaScope: An Adventure Underwater
Jean-Michel Cousteau continues his family's legacy of underwater exploration, education and conservation with this exciting collection of videos covering everything from coral reefs, whales, jellyfish, dolphins, sharks, manatees, manta rays, eels, seals, shipwrecks and more! Kids will delight at this exclusive window into the exciting underwater world with all its breathtaking wildlife and scenery.
Short 5 minute segments capture the magic and the science of underwater exploration. It's fun for the whole family. And with 52 different episodes, there's plenty to discover under the sea!
In addition to the 52 SeaScope videos, there are also 52 SeaScope Question & Answer videos that can be used in conjunction with the main videos to test kid's understanding of the information provided.
There is also a free Lesson Plan and Teacher's Guide containing 22 lesson plans that you can use in your classroom or right at home! Dive in by downloading the free lesson plans here.
SeaScope Episodes
- Rainforests of the Sea
Coral reefs are to the sea what rainforests are to the land. Both are productive, limited in scale, and have an incredibly diverse number of species. Reefs occupy only 1/10th of one percent of the ocean bottom, yet 1/4 of all the species in the sea make their home on coral reefs.
Please be aware that the narration states coral reefs are home to 99 % of all ocean life. Since this video was produced, new information indicates that coral reefs contain ¼ of all marine life.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/XuhhICAOFQgQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/MYe-A7bi94o - Whale Wishers
Before they start on their long migration north, the friendly whales of San Ignacio Lagoon in Mexico get a warm send-off from people in boats who are thrilled by the up-close encounters.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/1JptoqiWd1AQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/MskBSKGyiQ8 - Sand City
The ocean bottom looks empty, but is filled with strange critters like cuttlefish that squirt ink, urchins that pick up hitchhikers, and fish that play possum – you just have to know where to look.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/1JptoqiWd1AQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/U36jQEb8wRg - Cleaning Station
It’s always hard to clean behind the ears, even underwater. Luckily, fish have help: little cleaner fish with special markings that identify them as as the doctors of the reef. These doctors, which also include certain, shrimp, wrasses, and gobies, remove parasites such as isopods, bacteria, and fungi from their patients.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/ymR46NGTAMgQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/I1M-c-9h1Cc - Clownfish/Anemone
The anemone has a carpet of stinging tentacles, but the clownfish feels right at home: it is immune to the stingers and uses them to protect itself and its eggs from predators. In return, it protects the anemone from certain species of fish that like to munch on the anemone’s tentacles. It's a win/win relationship!
Main video:
https://youtu.be/ALchuPgwniMQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/gwkBQizoFuo - Destroyer at Peace
Not too many people get to ride a sinking ship to the bottom of the sea – but Jean-Michel Cousteau does. He then watches as fish move into their new home as the sunken ship now turns in to a beautiful artificial reef.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/MEMjFFFGl1IQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/auSfNedCLK8 - Different Strokes
Everyone in the ocean swims in a different way. Knowing why can tell you a lot about their lives, including what they eat and what eats them.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/-hb567-pqtYQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/vkuNzSmrSKA - Jellyfish Lake
Some jellyfish sting, but in Palau’s Jellyfish Lake, you can dive in a whole sea of jellies without getting hurt – if you know which ones you’re dealing with.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/ZofkoMQ90IcQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/T7qNrHXGLJM - Reef Recyclers
Nothing is wasted on a coral reef. Sea cucumbers feed on waste, turning it into clean sand, and sponges do the same with water. Both the sea cucumber and sponge remove waste leaving the reef clear and clean, so we call them ‘recyclers’ of the sea.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/CGEneaCHHlQQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/5eTtQAuiKSw - Molly the Manta
Molly the manta ray lives in the Cayman Islands. She looks a little scary, but she’s really friendly, and lets people touch her when she comes near their lights to feed on plankton at night.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/8Ia6-N3As_oQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/cxa3yaIPIag - Dinosaurs of the Deep
The nautilus was around before the dinosaurs, and it’s still here. Like a scuba diver, it can handle different depths and pressures. Close cousins of the nautilus, the cuttlefish are also living fossils.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/MKQzNVNr4d4Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/abMgDa-CUww - Bedtime Stories
Everyone needs to sleep, even in the sea. Some fish bury themselves in the sand to take a snooze, while the octopus settles into a little rocky crevice and changes color so it won’t be disturbed.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/rNSwk-2p8REQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/ONisWljVCXc - Undersea Forests
In California, giant kelp form beautiful forests filled with animals. Sea lions frolic through the underwater forest, and each leaf-like structure or frond is home to snails, crabs, and other tiny creatures.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/viwx4U8ovloQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/GPnoM6nmjqg - The Urchin & the Damselfish
Old McDonald was a damselfish: these little fish farm small gardens of algae on coral reefs. Some make their homes in dens excavated by sea urchins. Urchins like to eat algae but the damsel fish doesn’t like to share so they chase or carry the hungry urchins off the farm.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/6b4u3n_0TYwQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/7hF4HoKBI00 - False Advertising
The ocean is full of phonies, liars, and con artists – but there’s a good reason. Fish have to be tricky to both find a meal and to avoid being eaten, so many resort to false advertising and camouflage.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/MMTSMTAKfPAQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/pGZiGo3z4M4 - Sixth Sense
Some fish actually like to be in school. Resembling an expert drill team, they shoot through the water in very beautiful patterns. They even stay in formation at night! How is this possible? They have a sixth sense. Using something called a lateral line, they feel the vibrations that go through the water as their friends move and they use that information to stay in formation.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/m2yIlDyLvtUQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/j7U-4Ff5yx8 - Reef Killers
Polluted water stresses corals ; even things as simple as sediments and nutrients can cause corals to die. The crown-of-thorns seastar is beautiful but when there is pollution in the water they have a baby boom. This sudden explosion creates a big problem for reefs because this seastar eats coral. When there are too many crown-of-thorns seastars, they can devour and destroy a whole coral reef.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/hDwWq56IGIsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/cFdWC9FasWQ - Spotted Dolphins
Spotted dolphins use a sonar buzz to stun tiny fish that live in the sand, and then they dig them up for dinner. When bottlenose dolphins come to join the dinner party, they seem to be welcome guests at first but then they are chased away in no uncertain terms.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/ZF66PEIL85cQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/xPDB8PjDuWE - Value of a Fish
The people of the Cayman Islands have realized that many fish are more valuable alive than dead on a dinner plate. Underwater celebrities like Freddy the grouper, the tarpons of Tarpon Alley, and the stingrays of Stingray City attract many divers and generate a lot of money for this island economy.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/RGXqpLmfKfsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/dzgP-2ewKSk - Pharma-sea
Many sea creatures produce chemicals to protect themselves from disease and predators, and some scientists are using these chemicals to create cures for some human ailments as well.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/YDPWRBdKzNsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/QoH18lvpfb4 - Joint-Footed Things
Crabs walk sideways, lobsters walk straight, and shrimp do it all. What do they have in common? They are the joint-footed creatures. They have exoskeletons, legs, pinchers, and are destined to walk in a world where most everyone else can swim.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/JvqzLX1ZGsYQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/NBPAS-x0bgs - Mystery Ship
Deep on the bottom of the ocean, a sunken ship is still leaking oil from its coral encrusted hull 50 years after it went down. Jean-Michel Cousteau explores this wreck. Inside there is no life, only spooky catwalks, passageways and a monster deep down in the engine room.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/1Q7FqQiCZrkQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/tpqZZ2sxKas - Filming Leopard Sharks
When large numbers of leopard sharks gather in the shallow waters off Catalina Island off the coast of California, scientists have an opportunity to locate and observe tagged sharks. Jean-Michel and his team are on hand to capture the action. But the camera-shy sharks pose a filming challenge, so remote cameras and even disguises are used to assist in getting the elusive close-ups.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/eHa92Q7sFnAQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/drLFwOFDBxs - Mating Dances
Gorgonians, sea fans and worms don’t make babies like some other animals – they just release millions of sperm and eggs into the water at the same time and rely on the currents to mix it all together. It’s called spawning, and what’s amazing is that it all happens on one or two special nights a year. Other undersea creatures like turtles take the more traditional approach to reproduction.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/tPj8tqJkcNkQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/sA3KF3EzPMo - Aquaculture
Today, turtles and giant clams are endangered, but some people are helping by raising baby turtles and clams in underwater farms and then releasing them into the wild.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/lohQNcIWKegQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/xGFQC-sTQo4 - Wrecking Crew
The earth is under constant transformation and these wrecking crews are some of the reasons why: On land, water can carve beautiful caverns out of solid rock. Underwater, animals like the parrotfish and sea urchins excavate the reef, grinding rock and old coral skeletons into sand that eventually helps form beaches. But the slow moving chiton may be the star of this show as it is actually one of the geological forces behind the fanciful “mushroom” islands of Palau.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/k_ZwAUv3rn0Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/w734r6pATks - Dive Buddies
Just like people, sea creatures have buddies that they like to hang out with. Sometimes the relationship is mutually beneficial to both, as in the classic relationship between the clownfish and the anemone. However, often one of the partners reaps all of the rewards, as in the case of the shark and the hitchhiking remora.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/DwChhmaF8hgQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/r1q18OaX4n4 - Form & Function
Fish come in all different shapes and sizes. That’s because they all have different survival strategies. We’ll find out how these different forms function to benefit their survival.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/p2CU-XPV-gQQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/Zy-5LsmwwbY - Spiny Things
If you lived on the bottom of the sea and wanted to protect yourself but you couldn’t walk any faster than a crawl and couldn’t swim at all, what would you do? You could use spines to protect yourself like the echinoderms! In fact, echinoderm means spiny (echino) skin (derm).
Main video:
https://youtu.be/MkvG67dgy18Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/k62XyDmnWaE - Plankton
You can see right through some creatures in the ocean, because they are made almost completely of water. Many of these creatures are called plankton. They drift through the ocean like spaceships and make colorful patterns of light.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/TnUBUzoCuR8Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/d2tLsiqmol8 - Standing Guard
In the sea, some creatures offer their offspring no parental care and could seem to care less about a stable home but others are fiercely protective of their young and their territory.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/C5d06fyJJaIQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/JBsIQKk0IqI - Destroyer at Peace
One year after its sinking, the Destroyer at Peace is hardly recognizable. The Crow’s nest has collapsed and the sea has begun transforming the ship to a reef in earnest. The sunken vessel is now home to many creatures, including a sergeant major guarding its nest of eggs.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/WVmByAfQiwkQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/8ZsuPD8Ts5I - Evolution in the Galapagos
Evolution has been described as inspired design producing perfection. A closer look leads one to wonder how such strange creatures could have been produced from the evolutionary process since they seem more like weird science fiction than perfection.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/kz1G04abYNsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/XOioM046Xvk - All Dressed Up
Have you ever gotten all dressed up in some really weird things just for fun? And have you ever changed your outfit from one to another? Many fish appear to be doing the same thing but in fact, there probably is a reason for them to be all dressed up.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/z6ey9woIGWsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/H77gtTFAbeg - Growing Up
Some fish look just like their parents, while others go through lots of changes before they’re grown up. Many change color, some change shape, and a few even change sex!
Main video:
https://youtu.be/eRJZq4p3DAYQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/LmAG3Fs_NBY - Weirdos of Indonesia
In the rich waters of Indonesia, where two oceans meet, evolution is in overdrive. In this almost perfect environment, sea creatures have come up with some mind-boggling designs. That specialization helps animals like the stargazer, the pygmy seahorse, and the mimic octopus survive in diverse habitats.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/2nKB9PRj5AUQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/v0oOtgf5elo - Keiko – Learning to be Wild
Keiko the orca is being untrained. That’s right, in preparation for his release to freedom, his trainers are teaching him how to be wild by getting him physically and mentally fit for life at sea.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/fMHM-hpBlrcQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/XpnHuGO_ikU - Manatees
Manatees, or sea cows, spend most of their lives eating plants – up to 100 pounds in a day. A manatee’s life may sound boring but it can be dangerous with boats nearby. Luckily, a series of refuges now protects about a thousand of these once plentiful marine mammals from poachers and propellers.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/NwxnMQG8-akQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/ogq35aZd-NI - Eels
They look like they belong in a horror show, but eels are just fish whose slinky shape helps them survive in rocky and sandy habitats. Seeing them hunt is pretty scary, but one diver finds out that they can be as cuddly as kittens – when they’ve had enough to eat.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/8lONZjP-ajcQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/V6yavTZX2zc - Elephant Seals
Elephant seals are champion divers that go nearly a mile deep in search of food. But it’s on land that they play out an important part of their social life, the males fighting over beach territory to win a harem of females.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/IY7dmzAFkUMQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/5VvMLGiPYk4 - Mangroves
A tree that grows in the sea? Well, sort of. Mangrove seedlings travel long distances to settle in estuaries and on beaches where they grow a complicated aboveground root system. Due to ignorance, people sometimes cut them down, but mangroves are a useful habitat for young fish and a good way to keep beaches from washing away.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/tvsqk4QQY14Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/JkqF8AtZNZA - Friendly Monk
Monk seals were once hunted for their fur, so they are usually shy. But off of Hawaii, one monk seal loves to swim with people and nobody knows why. Was he in a zoo? Was he somebody’s pet? Now the seal has returned to his own wild world but the mystery lingers.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/aj95xjH76nAQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/YDA35tQNYvg - Battleships on the Bottom
Where once a furious battle raged, sunken ships now litter the bottom. The smoke has cleared, but danger lurks around every corner as Jean-Michel Cousteau explores tangled wrecks filled with live ammunition.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/_jAN57UPkYcQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/TQSFkiw-v-o - Marine Mammal Rescue
Twenty years ago, Peter Howorth caught sea lions for marine parks. Now he catches them for their own good. Peter’s Santa Barbara Marine Mammal Rescue Center helps stranded, injured, and entangled marine mammals recover and gives them the ultimate gift – their freedom.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/W2b5v_FoIkwQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/NLWeVN9nNso - Food Web
Some sea creatures eat plants and some eat other animals, but all are processing the same thing: solar energy. The sun is the source of energy that keeps the entire marine food web going.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/kARkOXPpiMUQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/GBemYbzwIpI - Warm Blood in the Sea
Millions of years ago, the ancestors of marine mammal walked on land. Today, whales, dolphins and pinnipeds rule the sea. From blubber to blowholes, a series of ingenious adaptations help these warm-blooded creatures flourish in a cold-water world.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/joinz516m2UQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/oJexiDvtFHE - SeaScience
In order to protect the sea, people have to understand it and that means studying things like coral reefs and fish populations up close. But how do you perform science underwater when it’s hard enough in the lab? Scientists always find a way.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/dLRsz78hWCAQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/VFOpmc8MmLM - Polarized
You wouldn’t expect to find much life in the arctic, but it’s actually teeming with animals. How do they survive? Many fish species have antifreeze in their veins, while marine mammals thrive on a combination of blubber and brains.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/geFtnFehty4Q&A video:
https://youtu.be/XxGy2YcPI9U - Deeper & Longer
People have long wanted to swim free underwater like fish and marine mammals but only in the last 150 years did they invent the gear to help them do just that. Now there are new frontiers to explore as the quest to go deeper and stay longer continues in a new generation with space-age technology.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/zDhvdY1JQrUQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/sZIISJC7eRU - The Ever Changing Arctic
In the arctic, animals have come up with some impressive adaptations to keep up with their ever-changing environment. Polar bears can travel on land or in the water. That’s what makes them champs of the adaptation game.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/gDf88gz8ABwQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/nwoDmQi7HQQ - No Bones
Most people are afraid of sharks, but only about a dozen of the world’s 440 species of sharks and 630 species rays are dangerous. All of them are fascinating, having risen to the top of the marine food chain without having a single bone in their bodies.
Main video:
https://youtu.be/VIO7W6vWAyYQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/mgcZqrOC8aI - Keiko – Homeward Bound
For over 18 years, Keiko the killer whale performed tricks for marine park audiences. Now he’s working up to the greatest trick of all – returning home to the wild waters off Iceland. He has lots of help, including trainers, scientists, and even the U.S. Air Force!
Main video:
https://youtu.be/XnuJBnU5OhsQ&A video:
https://youtu.be/k8kG_CaauXg
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