ANIMAL PLANET UNVEILS THE BLUEPRINT OF NATURE'S MOST INTRIGUING MARINE LIFE IN "WILD DEEP"

-- Six-part Natural Wildlife Series Spans Earth's Oceans and Seas Beginning January 22 --

Go WILD DEEP, and experience the circus of the freaky; the water's teeming with marine life you likely haven't seen before. Beginning Tuesday, January 22, at 9 PM ET/PT, WILD DEEP showcases the amazing wonders and epic beauty that exist in Earth's seas and oceans. Witness incredible events of marine life that have been hidden from human eyes, until now.

Just like people, the world consists mostly of water. Nearly three-fourths of Earth is taken up by a massive blue patchwork of seas and oceans. And yet, what lies beneath the surface is a frontier we only have begun to explore...

The subterranean global journey begins with a deep dive into the waters of the Coral Triangle near Asia, where an alien realm of incredible, unusual creatures exists. Looking as if they're plucked straight from the fantastical Nintendo or Pokémon toy universe with their mutant physical traits and unique battling powers, these marine animals - with odd-sounding names like the sexy shrimp, the boxfish (which looks like Pac Man) and PomPom coral use their evolutionary powers of deception to survive and thrive in their fragile environments. The Harlequin Ghost Pipefish is a mastermind of disguise, floating upside down and masking as innocuous seaweed so it can ambush its prey. The Flamboyant Cuttlefish has pulsating flashes of color to warn predators it's toxic, able to kill an adult human with its venom, and when it's ready to kill, it extends a tentacle like a billiard cue stick, angling for the perfect victim. The hairy frog fish may not look deadly, but it employs "aggressive mimicry," a technique that slyly renders itself harmless, so it can take its prey by total surprise.

In subsequent episodes, the series dives into the waters surrounding Africa, Europe, Oceania and the Americas to showcase the dramatic, complex universes beneath their waves. Throughout the series, capturing on film a pod of sperm whales floating in suspended animation and sleeping for 12 minutes at a time and exhibiting human-like, rapid- eye movement, cameras spy on an array of sharks, turtles and whales. All species shown in WILD DEEP are so diverse and ingenious, scientists believe that only a tiny fraction of them have been discovered - that there's a world out there we only are beginning to understand.

WILD DEEP is produced for Animal Planet by Best Film Co. Marcin Zoltowski is executive producer for Best Film Co. Krishna San Nicolas is producer for Animal Planet.