Episode Information

Once a year, one of nature’s great spectacles takes place on the northernmost coast of the Gulf of Alaska. It’s a collision of two massive migrations, when thousands of ravenous salmon sharks gather to attack millions of Pacific salmon. The salmon are desperately trying to reach their spawning grounds in Prince William Sound. The sharks are there to gorge themselves. In a matter of weeks, they will eat up to 25% of the salmon in the Sound. But sharks? In Alaska? Of the nearly 500 known sharks in the world, this is the only one equipped to ply these icy waters. Even its first cousin, the Great White Shark, rarely braves this kind of cold. So how does the salmon shark function with such efficiency in water that hovers just above freezing? It has a remarkable adaptation: this fish is warm-blooded! In the end, the salmon run on an urgency born of their need to reproduce while the sharks run on hunger. This spectacular film travels with the salmon shark and the salmon at this remarkable natural spectacular.