Wildlife YouTubers are capturing crazier and crazier footage, and sometimes this footage helps expand our knowledge of the natural world. Well, that’s exactly what Barny Dillarstone, a videomaker from the UK, does as he travels the world capturing images of exotic marine life.
Dillarstone is an established YouTuber, and his signature tool is a night vision camera, which he plunges into the cold, dark depths of the world’s oceans to reveal the weird and wonderful life that inhabits them.
On his latest project, Dillarstone dropped the camera to 700ft (213m) into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Nusa Penida, an island that forms part of the province of Bali, Indonesia, and is known to locals as “Black Magic Island.”
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Dillarstone plunged the camera into the pitch-dark nighttime waters with bait attached to attract visitors. Speaking to Surfer, he said: “Across several days, we recorded all sorts of strange deepwater creatures, including hound sharks, moray eels, and enormous stingrays.”
According to Dillarstone, this is the first time anyone has recorded at night here, and also the first time footage has revealed an Indonesian hound shark alive in the wild. In the YouTube video Dillarstone published following the project, he says that he “consulted experts” who confirmed this.
Perhaps more frightening than an elusive shark is the giant stingaree that was also caught on camera. In the interview with Surfer, Dillarstone said: “This is the biggest [ray] of them all — the giant stingaree. This male is not only enormous — it’s as long as I am tall — but strong and determined.”
He went on to explain: “Its power is extraordinary, with jaws designed to crush hard-shelled prey on the seabed. Needless to say, the sharks were happy watching from a distance.”
It never fails to blow my mind just how advanced camera technologies are getting, and I hope people like Barny Dillarstone continue capturing world-first footage of our oceans’ fascinating inhabitants.
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Dillarstone normally uses a GoPro and we have an expert review on the best GoPro cameras for you to check out
