The Seventh Most Dangerous Sea
Name: The Ordovician
Time: 450 million years ago
Location: New York
Special Equipment Used: Chain mail suit, video camera
Filming Location: Egypt
In the Ordovician, the day is only 21 hours long and there is more carbon dioxide than in the twenty-first century, forcing Nigel to don a medical-looking backpack filled with air tanks with a special oxygen mixture.
To attract a Megalograptus, Nigel finds the corpse of a dead Astraspis washed up on the beach. Because there is no land life, there are no coastal scavengers to eat what the sea spits out.
Before long, Nigel wades into shallow water and the Astraspis attracts a large Megalograptus. The Megalograptus devours the Astraspis, before attacking Nigel's foot, cutting it badly.
Later on, Nigel attempts to go after a Cameroceras, by removing the eye of a dead Isotelus and replacing it with a small video camera. He then uses the inflatable raft to venture out into the deeper waters, where he throws the trilobite/video camera combo overboard. A Cameroceras is quickly attracted to it, and Nigel and the cameraman plunge overboard to film the elusive Cameroceras. On the dive, Nigel wears a chain mail suit, so that any marauding Megalograptus do not attack him.
The Cameroceras is more agile in the sea than Nigel, and as Cameroceras attempts to swim away, Nigel grabs onto its shell. When the Cameroceras starts to dive down into the depths, Nigel swims away to the surface.
When Nigel pilots the boat back to shore, he finds a surprise: there are large numbers of Megalograptus mating in the shallow waters. Nigel manages to make his way safely through the Megalograptus, but a few clamber onto the inflatable boat and puncture it.
Cameroceras (identified as an orthocone, revealed in book and encyclopedia)
Megalograptus (identified as a sea scorpion, revealed in DVD fact files,website, book and encyclopedia)
Isotelus (shown dead, identified as a trilobite , revealed in book)
Astraspis (shown dead, identified as an armour-plated fish , revealed in book)
[edit] The Sixth Most Dangerous Sea
Name: The Triassic
Time: 230 million years ago
Location: Switzerland.
Special Equipment Used: Bangstick
Filming Locations: New Zealand and the Bahamas
As Nigel walks along the tropical coastlines of Triassic Switzerland, he explains that the reptiles are taking over the surface of the earth from the skies (e.g. Peteinosaurus), to the land (e.g. Coelurosaurus). But of course, he is here to see the earliest sea reptiles.
From the deck of the Ancient Mariner, Nigel and crew watch as a Nothosaurus comes up for air. When he sees one, Nigel dives into the seas, pursuing the elusive sea reptile.
Before long, Nigel finds a pair of Nothosaurus. The Nothosaurus circle him, and Nigel has his prod ready to put off any Nothosaurus that comes too close. One of the Nothosaurus prepares to move in closer, and Nigel prods it with the electric prod. The Nothosaurus move off, and Nigel discovers another bizarre sea reptile: a Tanystropheus.
Nigel follows the Tanystropheus, and attempts to get a closer look at it by grabbing onto its tail, impeding its movement. However, the Tanystropheus loses its tail, similar to the modern day leopard gecko. Nigel can hold onto the tail only with difficulty, because it is thrashing around (intended as a predator deterrent). Suddenly the tail is snatched up and then eaten by a Cymbospondylus.
The Cymbospondylus begins to circle Nigel, and he explains that its slow movement is designed to deceive prey, and it can move very quickly when it is needed to. After he pokes it with the prod, the Cymbospondylus swims away, and Nigel returns to the relative safety of the Mariner.
Nothosaurus (identified as a nothosaur, revealed in encyclopedia)
Tanystropheus
Cymbospondylus
Coelurosaurus (identified as a dinosaur, revealed in book and on website,portrayed as the Coelophysis from Walking with Dinosaurs
Peteinosaurus (identified as a pterosaur)
Prestosuchus (in book)
Neuticosaurus (in book)
Mastodonsaurus (in book)
Thrinaxodon (in book)
[edit] The Fifth Most Dangerous Sea
Name: The Devonian
Time: 360 million years ago
Location: Ohio
Special Equipment Used: Shark cage (round)
Filming Location: New Zealand
On a preliminary dive, another crew member of the Mariner (Mike) films a huge Dunkleosteus, swimming around the shallow reefs near the Ancient Mariner. The crew springs into action, and Nigel goes fishing for Bothriolepis. Nigel places a bet with one of the other crew members that the Dunkleosteus will be able to slice through the Bothriolepis wrapped in the chain mail suit he used in the Ordovician. When the round shark cage is fully asssembled, Nigel descends into it. The smell of the dead Bothriolepis begins to attract a Stethacanthus, and some smaller Bothriolepis. Eventually, the monstrous Dunkleosteus is sighted, and the enraged fish repeatedly bashes the cage with its thick head, and looks as though it is about to rip a hole in the cage.
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