Life in the Dark: Illuminating Biodiversity in the Shadowy Haunts of Planet Earth

Stunning, never-before-seen photographs of creatures that live in complete darkness.

Honorable Mention for Technical Text of the Washington Publishers

Deep inside caves, at the bottoms of oceans and lakes, beneath the ground: these concealed habitats are absent of sunlight. This strange and fascinating world of complete darkness is not a solitary place―it is inhabited by millions of life forms. Yet most humans―creatures of daylight―have never seen any of them. Until now.

In this fascinating―sometimes eerie―book, extreme wildlife photographer and scientist Danté Fenolio brings the denizens of these shadowy haunts into focus. Life in the Dark shows us the many ways in which life forms have adapted to lightless environments, including refinements of senses, evolution of unique body parts, and illumination using "biological flashlights."

With more than 200 mesmerizing color photographs, Life in the Dark unveils bizarre creatures like the firefly squid, the giant Amazonian catfish, the Chinese cavefish, and even the human bot fly, which lives in the darkness beneath its host’s skin. Fenolio’s rich and vibrant images shed new light on the world’s fascinating creatures of darkness.