River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 4, Episode 8 - Phantom Assassin - full transcript

I'm Jeremy Wade,

extreme angler
and freshwater detective.

I've been hearing stories
of a shadowy predator

hiding in an Australian river

that's thick
with deadly flesh eaters.

It was only named
a few years ago,

it's never been filmed,

and next to nothing
is known about it.

And I'm setting out to attempt
the near impossible...

To catch one.

Against million-to-one odds,



this journey will expand
our knowledge

of the freshwater world

and turn what I thought I knew

about river killers upside down.

Look at that. Look at that.
Look at that.

Last year, I traveled to
Australia's Fitzroy River,

one of the most extreme
and least-explored waterways

on the planet

and one renowned
for its man-eaters.

I discovered that two of
its most impressive predators

were interlopers swimming
in from the sea.

Got something on that.

One looked murderous,
but it's a gentle giant.

Oh, it's a swordfish.
It's a swordfish.



The other is a known killer...
The bull shark.

But I also heard rumors

of another predator swimming in
from the open ocean.

One so elusive,

it was only discovered
10 years ago,

so mysterious, next to nothing
is known about it,

and so rare that only a handful
have ever been caught...

The glyphis shark.

More people have walked
on the moon

than have caught this fish
on rod and line,

but I've not been able
to forget about it,

so I've come back
to western Australia

to see if I can catch
this very rare fish

and find out
if it's a potential killer.

I start by meeting up
with an old contact.

American fish scientist Jeff
Whitty works on the Fitzroy.

How's it going?

I've fished with him before,

and he's one of the few people
to have ever seen a glyphis.

What can Jeff tell me about
the fish I'm here to catch?

They're a pretty rare shark.

They were only discovered here

in western Australia
in like 2002,

so, since then
we've caught very few,

know very little
about this fish.

Fewer than 20 glyphis river
sharks have ever been caught,

from just a handful of rivers
in Australia and New Guinea.

No full-grown adults
have ever been recorded,

but they are thought
to grow over 9 feet long.

Beyond that, their range,
population size, and behavior

is shrouded in mystery.

And no one knows just how
dangerous these fish are.

That's where I come in.

Any chance of one these things
picking our boat up?

Likelihood... very rare species,

even so much that they're listed
as critically endangered.

There's always a chance.

That's what's fun about fishing.
There's always a chance.

But it's a rare chance.

If I do manage to get one
in the next few days,

presumably, that's gonna be
quite a significant addition

to, you know, the data.

Very few have been caught in
western Australia... period.

So increasing that sample size
by even one

would be a massive contribution.

I'm trying to catch a fish that
few people have ever seen...

in a river that runs
for nearly 300 miles.

And I have just two weeks
to do it.

I must be crazy.

On my last trip,

I learned that the Fitzroy

draws some fish in from the sea.

Both bull sharks and swordfish
use its waters

as a place to give birth
to their live young.

This is probably
about a year old.

There have to be breeding-size
adults around.

It's possible the glyphis
does the same.

That give me something to go on.

The Fitzroy runs through

one of the world's last
great wild places...

Isolated, undisturbed,
and hostile.

It's said there are so many
flesh eaters in the water

that when people go missing,
their bodies are never found.

And I've heard
of one unsolved attack

that might just add the glyphis

to this list of
hostile river monsters.

It was a summer evening,
at the height of a heat wave.

A young man came down
to the river to cool off.

Just a few yards out,

he felt something
tear into his flesh.

He dragged himself
back to shore,

where he saw a savage gash
in his thigh.

I'm told the victim survived,

but his attacker
has never been identified.

It sounds like the work
of a freshwater shark,

and the glyphis I've come to
catch might just be a suspect.

From the chopper,

I map out the best-looking
fishing holes,

the danger zones,
and the escape routes...

because as soon
as I hit the ground,

I'm fishing many miles
from the nearest hospital.

I need to stay out of range
of the killers I can see

and the hidden
predators I can't.

I'm using dead fish bait,

a large hook,
and a wire trace...

Perfect for toothy hunters
in muddy water.

That's a fish, I think.

What is it? Oh, that is a crab.
That is a crab.

The bottom rung
on the flesh-eating ladder,

these river crabs
clean up anything

the larger predators miss.

So, that's what they do.

I mean, you're left fishing
with no bait.

But they're not the only
technical challenge.

This fishing's actually
very problematical.

There's all this stuff
on the top of the water

catching my line.

There's rubbish
on the bottom as well.

I'm just getting snagged up,
losing so much stuff.

Anywhere else in the world,

I'd get in to retrieve my gear,
but here, it's too risky.

Just getting a bait in position

where it's likely to intercept
something more interesting

is really quite a challenge.

Any fish living
in this predator soup

needs to be constantly alert.

Well, the bait is gone.

And when they're all
watching their backs,

they're harder to catch.

This is going out.

But the next morning,

something at last
lets its guard down.

I'll let it play with it
a bit more.

It seems to be quite hesitant.

Okay, I'm gonna hit this.

Yep. There we go.

Ooh, it's a shark.

It's a bull shark.

It's a bull shark.

All right.

Nearly 50 miles from the sea,

I've caught a young version of
the ultimate marine predator.

So, this is a bull shark,

upriver,
wandering in from the sea,

spending part of its life here.

This bull shark,
tagged by scientists,

has the amazing ability to swim
in both salt and freshwater.

Physiologically, it's comparable

to a person
breathing on the Moon.

I've tracked them down

in rivers and lakes
across the globe,

and I've seen just how deadly
they can be.

But with the rare glyphis
also prowling these waters,

the bull shark may not be the
only killer fish in this river.

Well, there's the proof

that there are bull sharks
in these rivers,

and I have to say,
until I'm convinced otherwise,

that remains
my number-one suspect

for any shark attack in a river.

To the untrained eye,

the bull shark and the glyphis
are very easy to confuse.

It's just possible
that the bull shark

may have been taking the rap
for glyphis attacks.

I know from experience

that the best way
to gather information

is to seek the advice
of the locals.

So I travel further upriver
into a series of gorges

that have been home
to Aboriginal Australians

for tens of thousands of years.

They have an intimate knowledge

of local plants and animals,

and on my last visit,

Mary Aiken,
an expert fisherwoman,

was instrumental in my quest
for the swordfish.

Local legends are full of
references to this monster,

but can this ancient culture

tell me anything
about the glyphis?

There are sharks here,

but Mary tells me
they're all bull sharks.

So, have you caught
any big ones here?

Yeah. Yeah.

Out here, the term "bull shark"

could mean any shark
swimming in a river.

And given that glyphis and
bull sharks look very similar,

I need to take a closer look

at exactly what's swimming
in these waters.

Still there. Still there.
Still there. Still there.

Okay, it's coming in.
It's coming in.

It's not a bull shark
or a glyphis.

This predator is a barramundi.

There you go.
This is a barramundi.

It's quite strange for me

because this is actually
just like a Nile perch.

They don't grow quite as big
as a Nile perch,

but very uncanny,
the resemblance...

The same family.

It's picked up a big, dead
mother off the bottom,

in the middle of the night.

Barramundi have sandpaper teeth,

which makes them unlikely
to injure people.

Yeah, that was not the one
that I'm actually after.

But I don't want to
push my luck in this spot

because a predator
even deadlier than a shark

is on patrol...

a saltwater crocodile.

I'm careful to set up camp

well back from the water's edge.

The next morning,

I get a visit
from a local guide.

He's been told I'm here

and has a story that suggests
I'm not being careful enough.

Dan Duncan
and his girlfriend, Sonia,

were on a fishing trip
in the Outback.

Aware of the danger
from crocodiles,

they, too, pitched their tent
well away from the water.

But on this night,
distance was no protection.

Somehow Dan's girlfriend

managed to avoid the
crocodile's jaws and escape...

Dan: Go!

Leaving Dan tangled in the tent

and fighting for his life.

To stay safe out here,

I'm going to need eyes
in the back of my head.

But the croc story
has got me thinking

about teeth and bite marks.

Whatever attacked that man
in the river

may have left
an identifiable mark.

Teeth marks are often
the calling card

large predators leave behind.

I need to dig up reports
on the attack

to look for some kind
of dental signature.

Even in the Outback,

satellite technology provides
exactly what I'm looking for...

Pictures of the injuries.

Now, these are closely spaced
sharp cuts.

Distinctive wounds

that instantly eliminate
one possible suspect.

Crocodiles have teeth that are
much larger and blunter,

and they rely on biting force,
rather than sharp edges.

They leave heavier,
wider-spaced holes

that look nothing like
the wounds in question.

So what about the bull shark?

I've seen their bites before.

In one case, a prize racehorse

was being exercised in
Australia's Brisbane River,

when it was attacked
by a bull shark.

Experts instantly recognized
its unique signature.

Its triangular upper teeth
leave an arc of clean cuts,

unlike any other bite.

One glance at the more messy
tears of this new attack

shows these bites are nothing
like those of the bull shark.

And as the obvious suspects
are eliminated,

I could be looking
at the first known victim

of the glyphis shark.

I head back downstream
to another shark hot spot,

where Jeff Whitty's team
of fish scientists

are working on their survey.

Recently, we've been going
up to Fitzroy Crossing,

Geikie Gorge, and we haven't
done much sampling in this area.

For maximum coverage,

they're setting gill nets

across the width of the channel.

I want to keep an eye
on what they're catching

and also try my chances
on a rod and line.

My bait has been stolen,

but the scientists
are having better luck.

So you're bringing the net in?
So there's nothing in it?

They want me to help
from the shore.

There could be anything
in there...

A shark, a stingray,
or something bigger.

Man: We're gonna try
and flip him over.

It's one of the strangest

and deadliest-looking fish
in the world...

the sawfish.

All right.

We just turned it on its back.

Some fish,
you turn them on their back...

It calms them down a little bit.

This is an
impressive-size animal.

And, I mean, look
at the business end on that.

It's not a glyphis.

And although it's well-armed,

this can't be the attacker
I'm looking for.

Although the body
looks a bit shark like,

if you go back from the rostrum,

it has got teeth,
but they're small

and they're flat
and they're blunt.

And I can quite easily
put my hand in there...

No danger at all.
It's completely unmarked.

Thrashing around in a net,

the sawfish might look
like a deadly weapon,

but there are no records

of this fish deliberately
attacking a person.

You really see why populations
of swordfish

around the world have plummeted.

I mean, these things are just
so vulnerable to nets.

If you're a commercial
fisherman, time is money.

You're not gonna spend time
disentangling it,

then put it back in the water

when it's probably gonna swim

straight back
into your net again.

You know, a lump of wood
makes sense for the fisherman.

This is a very, very rare place
to actually find, you know,

a semi-healthy population
of them.

He's putting a tag in now,
gonna make a hole,

a small hole in the dorsal fin.

And what that also does,

it provides a tissue sample
for DNA analysis,

but then the tag goes in...
It's got a number on it.

So if this fish is recaptured,

it'll tell something
about the movement of it,

but also growth rates.

So a lot of information
comes from tags.

There we go.
I named this fish 1178.

First, the bull shark,
and now the sawfish...

I've seen two of this river's
three marine trespassers.

The very rare glyphis
still eludes me.

But one of the scientists
on this team

may be able to get me closer
to finding one.

Dr. Dave Morgan
holds a unique distinction.

He's the only person I know

to have caught a glyphis
on rod and line.

A normal angler might mistake
a glyphis for a bull shark,

but Dave knows his sharks.

Any idea what
they might grow to?

They could be
potentially dangerous?

"Impulse strike"...

It's the perfect description

of the attack I'm investigating.

In the murky river water,

whatever bit the swimmer

couldn't see what it was biting.

Dave caught
his glyphis downstream,

at the mouth of the Fitzroy,
a place called King Sound.

Any shark swimming in
from the ocean

must pass through here,

and it may be my best bet

for catching one of the rarest
sharks on the planet.

But King Sound
has its own extreme hazards.

This estuary has one
of the largest

and most dangerous tides
on the planet.

Twice a day, this water,
thick with mud,

can rise and fall
by up to 30 feet.

Boats ground
on the shifting sands

or get washed out to sea
by the vicious currents.

It's suicide to get in
the water,

and it can be lethal
even to sail on it.

I'm putting my faith
in a strong hook,

a heavy wire trace,
and fresh fish bait.

If there is a glyphis down
there, I'm ready for it.

There goes something.

Bloody hell.

Aah.

It's the way it's hanging.

Mystery fish,
just saw a flash of gray.

That sort of explosion and
rapid change of direction...

That's interesting.

Yeah, that's a whip ray.
That's a whip ray.

It's not a glyphis
but a close relative of sharks.

It's a whip ray.

Bite-wise,
nothing really going on there.

They do have teeth.

They're not cutting teeth.

They're just flat and blunt.

With rays, it's not the teeth
you have to worry about.

I caught a giant freshwater
stingray in Thailand...

the barb on its tail
10 inches long,

covered in thick, toxic mucous,

and capable of inflicting
horrific wounds.

This ray is smaller
but just as deadly.

Very wicked spine
on the tail there,

covered in this toxic venom.

We don't want that thing
in the boat.

The thing about the tide
moving up and down

is that the current
patterns change.

The fish are probably
gonna be on the move.

What the water's doing
is quite dynamic,

and we need to follow suit.

Although it looks calm
on the surface,

the currents are running
up to 10 knots.

And with the sands
constantly shifting,

suddenly the river
has become a minefield.

Can we get through this?

It is very shallow.
I'm not sure that we will.

If we ground in current
this quick,

it could roll the boat.

I'm gonna have to get out
of here pretty quick.

It's really shallowing fast.

We're in trouble.

One mistake,

and we're in the water with
the crocs and the sharks.

Skipper Andrew gets us
out of trouble,

but it's game over for today.

These conditions
are starting to worry me.

Getting out on the boat
is no problem,

the fishing is no problem,

what's the problem
is getting back.

Today it was really hairy,
and if it stays like this,

actually, going out tomorrow
might not be safe.

The odds of catching
this very rare fish

were already stacked against me.

These tides have pushed
the odds off the scale,

but they might hold a clue to
the attack I'm investigating.

The next morning, dawn's calm.

We get back out onto the sound

and into a good spot before
the tide starts running.

The scientists are also here,

and Jeff is preparing his nets.

All right.

Hey, how's it going?

All right, you're just waiting
for the tide here.

Yeah, yeah.

If I catch a shark,

I want to be sure I'm
identifying it correctly.

I don't want to miss a glyphis.

So, are you optimistic
for today?

I'm always optimistic.

Now, if I go and put out a line

and I get something which looks
a bit like a bull shark,

how will I know
if it is a glyphis?

A couple key features
is the eye.

It's really small.

It's actually smaller
than a bull shark.

In addition,
you got the dorsal fins.

Unlike a bull shark,

the second dorsal fin
on a glyphis is much larger.

So it's a bit like a bull shark
but not quite.

Yes. Exactly.

I mean, the reason they're
mostly confused with bull sharks

is because they both occupy
the same habitat.

That's really murky,
muddy waters.

So, yeah, we're gonna have to
have a little luck on our side.

I leave Jeff and his crew
on the nets.

My challenge is to get a bait

to hold the bottom
in the swirling currents.

What we've done is,
we've tucked into a little eddy

so that the main push
is going there,

about sort of 15 yards out.

But we've got a back eddy
and some still water here,

which is exactly
the kind of place

that anything on the bottom
is expecting to find food.

Zero visibility
in the muddy water

means I'm relying on the
shark's acute sense of smell

to home in on my fishy bait.

I think there's something there.

Yeah.

I have got a fish.

It's small,
but it might be interesting.

Could this be a glyphis
on the end of my line?

Oh, it's a shark!
It's a shark!

But have I boated a glyphis?

Spiky teeth on the lower jaw.

I now see for myself

just how difficult it is
to identify these juveniles.

You know,
I reckon it is, you know?

Let's call Jeff.

But straightaway,
Jeff dashes my hopes.

So you can see here already,
it's not a glyphis.

It's relatively big-eyed

compared to what
a glyphis would be.

Okay. So I was
a bit excited, then,

but getting it out and then
having a good look at it,

it's definitely not.

Okay.
Do you know what it is?

The two suspects
that I have in mind

are the milk shark
and the creek whaler.

But both of these sharks
are saltwater species,

which means this shouldn't
really be here.

So, if it's not a bull shark
and it's not a glyphis,

then what's it doing
in the river?

These large tides
that are pushing up,

this freshwater becomes
more saltwater.

So, you've got marine creatures

that are on the edge
of their domain, perhaps,

and as that boundary moves,
they move with it.

And if that means going inland,

they could end up inland
as well.

Yeah. Most definitely.

It's still not my glyphis,

but this unexpected catch

blows my attack investigation
wide open.

It shows that on western
Australia's extreme tides,

ocean predators can find
their way some distance inland,

with a whole range
of new victims to prey on.

So, was the shark that attacked

the swimmer in the river
not a glyphis

but a shark you'd normally
only find at sea?

I need to revisit
that bite mark,

the criminal's fingerprint.

So I've come
to a nearby archive,

hoping that a bit
of old-fashioned research

might reveal the last piece
of the puzzle.

Just as bull shark teeth
produce a unique signature,

so, too, do other sharks.

And now that I know
that other sharks

are entering rivers
like the Fitzroy,

I can perhaps match these
ragged bite marks to a culprit.

This is a mako shark.

And the teeth here
are very different.

They're not gonna
make a clean cut.

They're just gonna make holes,
make a mess.

The mako has carried out
over 40 reported attacks

in the last 60 years.

It's a known killer.

And it looks like a mako
made it up river

because these marks look like
those left by a mako's jaws.

The attack mystery
may be solved,

but my mission is far from over

because I still have
to catch a glyphis.

And the enormity
of this challenge

is beginning to sink in.

Just 20 of these animals

have been caught here
in the last 10 years or so,

and most of those
have been taken in nets.

So what I propose to do
could actually be harder

than looking for a needle
and a haystack.

Add to that the fact
that this immense area of water

has some of the biggest,
most dangerous tides

anywhere in the world,

and it really is
starting to sound

like a pretty crazy undertaking.

Attempting to catch what might
be the planet's rarest shark,

on possibly the world's
most dangerous river...

have I finally bitten off
more than I can chew?

Tide and sands
are constantly shifting

in the minefield of the estuary.

But we push through

to find shelter in a pocket
of slack water.

With three lines out,
now it's just a waiting game.

I'm just waiting for something

moving around in this very dark
environment to sniff,

sense what's on the end
of the line.

Oh.

What have I got?

Whoa.

Oh. It's a shark.
It's a shark.

Yeah.

That might even be a glyphis.

It's the right shape
and the right color.

I know now,
from talking with Jeff,

this is not a glyphis

because this second dorsal fin
here is small.

On the glyphis,
that is much bigger.

That's gonna be at least half
the size of the main dorsal fin.

This is a bull shark.

But at first glimpse
breaking the surface,

you just never know.

It's the wrong shark again.

But before I get
another bait out,

the scientists call me over

to take a look at the surprise
they've pulled in.

It's a hammerhead shark.

Well, actually, this one
is called a winghead.

I mean, look at the width
of that head.

It's like some kind of
underwater aircraft, in a way.

I've not caught
a hammerhead before,

so, I mean, this is impressive.

Very strange-looking beast.

But I think what
this really brings home

is that the estuary here
is just full of predators.

Another marine hunter
following in the salty tides.

But the more predators
there are down there,

the lower my chances of
hooking the one I'm after.

The tide has turned,

and the fishing is slowing down.

Maybe I'm kidding myself

to think I can catch the glyphis

when fewer than 10 have ever
been recorded on rod and line.

But something
has picked up my bait.

It's moving.

Yeah, yeah.
That is something.

It's running.

Is this at last
what I've come to catch?

Yeah.
That's something.

Very lively.

Coming up.
Coming up.

It's a shark,
but it's far from caught

because it's foul-hooked

with the hook
just nicked in its fin.

We can probably tail this.

It could break free any second.

We just have to grab it.

Look at that. Look at that.
Look at that. Look at that.

That's okay.
It's okay.

Looks good.

Suddenly, silence
because everyone on the boat

realizes this is
something special.

Is this a positive ID
on this, then?

- Yeah, definitely.
- Fantastic.

It's the first time this
species has ever been filmed.

I've landed
bigger river monsters

but none more rare.

This is a glyphis river shark...

Very rare species.

We've got a real positive ID
on this...

The shape of the notch,

just along the tail
and also the anal fin.

First one caught on camera.

Important to get it back now.

You can count the people
who have landed one of these

on the fingers of one hand.

One, two, two.

But we need to work fast.

This shark is so rare,

we're only permitted to
handle it for 60 seconds.

So, is it a killer?

It's a powerful predator

with super senses
and all the right weaponry.

But we've only just learned
this shark even exists.

And as yet, we don't know
enough about its behavior

or how large it grows
to make that call.

You always get that feeling
of disbelief

when you put the fish back,

but I think
with this particular one,

more so than normal.

And the trouble is,

because it's a fish that
there have been so few caught,

we just had to get it back
in the water quickly.

This journey has shaken
my assumptions

about where
the marine world ends

and my freshwater world begins.

I've added the glyphis
to the very short list

of fish that swim in both.

But can I also add it to my list

of dangerous river monsters?

The jury is still out.

And this fish here,

we didn't know it was here,
you know, 10 years ago.

So it just underlines for me

the fact that
what's under the water,

you know, it is still,
even in the 21st century,

just full of mystery.