Deep Sea Demon is the first episode of the eight season of River Monsters.
Episode Description[]
Extreme angler & underwater detective Jeremy Wade is in search of the real creature behind the legend of the sea serpent - starting with a violent attack in the English Channel, & culminating in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea.
Episode Summary[]
Moving his quest for monster fish to the world's oceans, Jeremy Wade seeks the truth behind one of the most enduring legends of all time: the sea serpent. His search initially begins locally in his home of England with a man's horrifying story of being attacked by a conger eel while diving.
However, after fishing off the British coast and catching one, Wade is able to discount the conger eel due to its lacking of common characteristics with the sea serpent.
Next, Wade travels to Thailand, where the serpentine Nāga is widely seen as a deity. Using the Nāga as a base for his search, Wade learns of multiple attacks on humans by the moray eel. He joins a local tribe who traditionally hunt these eels, and though they find morays with great size and monstrous behaviour, Wade is not completely convinced that the moray eel is the sea serpent.
While investigating the Nāga further, Wade meets a monk whose temple holds an alleged photograph of the real-life Nāga; in an instant, his quest changes, as the picture is of a creature he had never even considered – the oarfish.
Immediately seeing the similarities between the oarfish and Nāga, Wade searches for a way to encounter this rarely-seen fish, eventually coming into contact with a diver in France who encountered one during a dive.
Despite the mortal risk posed by diving in the vast, deep waters, Wade attempts the dive, only to find himself unable to last underwater.
As his time for ideal conditions to make the dive runs out, he decides to take a night dive and try again. During the dive, not one but two oarfish appear, coming so close that Wade can touch them. As a result, Wade becomes one of the very few people in history to witness a live, healthy oarfish.
Trivia[]
- One of the only episodes where the culprit is seen underwater instead of fished out.