[00:00.511] |
A single fish can chew its way through a staggering five tonnes of coral a year. |
[00:07.357] |
Smaller parrotfish, colourful cousins of the bumphead,are also at it. |
[00:13.597] |
But they all give a little back |
[00:16.351] |
as the ground-up coral comes out as sand. |
[00:21.036] |
This is island building of a different kind. |
[00:24.691] |
So some of the Pacific's most elegant beaches |
[00:27.399] |
have sprung from a less than stylish birth. |
[00:30.338] |
Above the water, time seems to stand still. |
[00:34.200] |
But the Pacific islands are always changing, if slowly. |
[00:39.157] |
This is Bora Bora, |
[00:42.112] |
a volcano in what could be called "late middle age". |
[00:45.885] |
The sloping flanks have slipped further into the sea, |
[00:49.001] |
pushing the reef away from the shore. |
[00:51.962] |
A lagoon is formed. |
[00:54.317] |
It's a patchwork of coral outcrops and sand. |
[00:58.091] |
Protected from the powerful waves of the surrounding ocean, |
[01:02.243] |
all kinds of animals take refuge in these calm, shallow waters. |