Meet Percy, the new king (or queen) of Blue Planet
A NEW series of Blue Planet will feature spectacular footage of whale sharks and underwater volcanoes. Yet the star of the show is likely to be a small fish called Percy.
The little tusk fish from the Great Barrier Reef made such an impression on the BBC’s Natural History Unit that they gave it a name during their six weeks of filming.
In what is thought to be the first footage proving that reef fish use tools, Percy is shown collecting clams with his teeth and taking them home, where he breaks them open on an “anvil”.
Rachel Butler, a producer and part of the underwater team, said: “We went out and spent six weeks with this little fish and got to know him.
“He was pretty cheeky. He would steal clams from other fish. He was using tools in his ‘castle’ right there in front of us. Percy genuinely could not care less that we were there.
“At one point I could feel a little tickle at the back of my feet and Percy was throwing bits of coral behind us. We became part of this reef city,” she told an audience at the Radio Times Television Festival.
It was only later that they discovered Percy was, in fact, female.
“We thought it was a boy, and it was only when we came back that we realised she was too small for a boy. But fish do change sex as they get bigger, and we’ve heard he’s been eating so many clams that he’s probably now male.”
The series, which spans every continent, took four years to film. It will be broadcast on BBC One this autumn, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. It is 16 years since the original Blue
Planet was shown. James Honeybourne, executive producer on the new series, said: “There have been huge scientific discoveries in that time, and there are new stories to tell.
“We will show new creatures doing new behaviours in new places.”