Wildlife photographer and scientist Danté Fenolio has a new book full of creatures that have evolved to thrive deep inside of caves, at the bottoms of oceans and underground. It’s called Life in the Dark and it comes out today. These are just a handful of the hundreds of the images in the book.
Some of the species in this book have never been photographed. Some (like the larval octopus at the top of this post) have never been described by science.
Günther’s Boatfish is a dragonfish with luminous spots called photophores along the length of its body.
The Golden Harlequin Toad is now extinct in nature thanks to the plague of amphibian chitrid fungus.
This bioluminescent mushroom is an undescribed species.
Waterfall Climbing Loach use their strong fins to crawl out of water and eat bacteria growing on rocks. This specimen was found in a cave in Thailand.
This cave house centipede was found in a Chinese cave.
The Square Pink Anthias lives in deep canyons near reefs called “drop-offs.” Weirdly, its bright colors aren’t visible at these depths - but its patterns are.
The candiru is a South American catfish that enter the dark gill chambers of other fish and eat their gills. They will haunt my nightmares forever.
Here’s a photo of Fenolio holding a giant Japanese Spider Crab (credit W. W. Lamar).
the silfra canyon of the mid atlantic ridge in iceland’s thingvellir national park has on one side the north american plate and on the other side the eurasian plate. the two plates are moving apart, widening the size of the atlantic ocean by about an inch a year. the water’s clarity, it bears noting, is the result of melted glacier water from langjoekull, which is filtered through underground lava rocks. (photos x, xx)
Pacific Wild Researcher Ian McAllister used an underwater housing to get this intimate portrait of a wolf wading through the intertidal zone on the British Columbia coast in Canada. This wolf took a break from eating herring roe to investigate the photographer’s half-submerged camera. Photograph by Ian McAllister
Spanish photographer Jordi Benitez Castells has Captured stunning detailed photos of Jellyfish just off the Spanish coast. The photos were taken about three metres below the surface using a Canon 7D. Jordi works full-time in a bank, but in his spare time climbs into his wetsuit goes diving.
