NARRATOR: The Bermuda Triangle
contains some of the deepest
trenches in the world.
The Puerto Rico Trench at
the Triangle's southern point
reaches depths of
over 27,000 feet.
But Dr. Gallagher suspects that
Mabel may frequent the Tongue
of the Ocean, a steep
underwater trench
less than a mile away
from Rose Island.
The deepest branch of
the Great Bahama Canyon,
it's named for its shape
that's like a tongue.
The Tongue of the Ocean drops
off steeply just half a mile
or so offshore.
Goes from about 30 feet to 300
to thousands really quickly.
We really have no
idea what's going on
down in the deep trenches here.
Anything could be
happening in the deep sea.
It's one of the final frontiers
for human exploration,
even more interesting, in my
opinion, than exploring space.
JOE ROMEIRO: So
animals of all sorts
can live within this trench.
And it seems like
there's reports
of all kinds of different
creatures living
within the tongue of the ocean.
It's sort of become
this legendary spot.
NARRATOR: If Mabel is
in the Bermuda trenches,
she may not be alone.
Once thought to be a barren
zone with few lifeforms
able to sustain themselves
without the sun's light,
marine biologists have
discovered that the deep waters
of the Bermuda Triangle
are home to other sharks,
from the megamouth to
the sharpnose sevengill.
Among the diverse shark
population in the depths
of the Bermuda Triangle,
one small shark stands
out for its audacious attacks--
the cookiecutter shark,
a terrifying shark
with a deceptively sweet name.
SPEAKER: Cookiecutters
have very distinctive.
Their teeth are
actually fused together.
Each individual tooth is
fused together, unlike what
you see with other sharks.
NARRATOR: This rarely
photographed shark makes
dramatic vertical migrations.
During the day, it dwells
in depths over 3,000 feet.
But at night, it rises up
over 2,000 feet to hunt.
SPEAKER: If you look on the
underside of a cookiecutter
shark, it actually has
cells that produce light,
what's called bioluminescence.
When a predator sees the
bioluminescence in the water,
it goes over to it to see if
anything has been disturbed.
A cookiecutter shark
uses this opportunity
to latch onto the side
of these predators
and take a bite from it.
NARRATOR: The cookie cutter
only grows to 20 inches,
yet it has the audacity
to attack whales,
tuna, even great white sharks.
The proof is in
the telltale injury
the cookiecutter
leaves on its victim--
a hole in the skin about this
size and shape of a cookie.
If you ever looked
at how they get
cookie dough out of
something, it's with a scoop.
And that's basically
what these sharks do.
They have this
jaw structure that
can latch onto the
side of an animal
and like scoop out
a piece of flesh.
NARRATOR: The
cookiecutter shark spends
its days deep in the ocean.
But even at shallower
depths, these sharks can be
extremely difficult to locate.
