Published 10 Sept 2021, 10:03 BST
A pelagic squid releases a cloud of ink before vanishing into the depths of Indonesian waters. The night sea can be mesmerizing, Doubilet suggests, but it can be disheartening to photograph for the reason that quite a few animals are very small and skittish: “As you go the concentrate, the creature spins this way or that, and you may possibly not get it.”
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
A juvenile jack hides guiding a jellyfish—driving it like a motorboat. As the jellyfish presents safety from predators, the juvenile fish might feed on parasites that have latched onto its host. “You almost never operate into anything that doesn’t fascinate you,” Hayes suggests. “It actually is a new macroscopic lens into the sea.”
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
Zooplankton—such as a jellyfish (remaining) and a larval lionfish surrounded by little, shrimplike amphipods (proper)—often swim from the deep toward the surface at night to feed. Diving in the open ocean following solar- down is “a grandstand seat to a parade of the most weird and exotic creatures in the entire world,” Doubilet claims.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
Some sightings are rarer than other folks, these kinds of as this immortal jellyfish that Hayes photographed in Anilao, Philippines. When threatened, this glowing bell-formed invertebrate can revert to its earliest everyday living phase—essentially restarting its life. It’s a person of quite a few animals considered to be the holy grail for black-water divers. For Doubilet and Hayes, the elusive blanket octopus tops the list.
At first identified as radiolaria—single-celled plankton with a really hard mineral shell—this photograph extra very likely depicts an egg mass spawned by an unknown species. Several night sea encounters are not immediately identifiable photographs are circulated inside of an energetic neighborhood of researchers and divers who do the job with each other to learn about this unique ecosystem.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
The mirror impression of a brilliantly colored flying fish is reflected on the underside of the sea’s area off Bermuda. Topside, these fish can glide up to 650 ft across the water by stretching out their pectoral fins like wings.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
To vacation properly through the night, this larval carangid hops a experience on the back again of a moon jelly. Basic safety is also on the minds of humans, who are at the mercy of the recent. Divers drop a rope studded with dazzling lights into the sea, hooked up to a buoy at the surface area. Both divers and their boat orient toward the light-weight to make certain no a person receives shed.
Some animals endeavor to camouflage them selves for protection—such as this pipefish, which is pretending to be the adhere it is carrying via the night sea in Anilao, Philippines. Blackwater divers fear about predators, too—especially sharks. But unfortunately, Doubilet claims, sharks have been fished out of most of the places the place they dive. “You truly feel fairly secure for all the erroneous explanations.”
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
Hayes photographed a coin-dimensions juvenile cowfish off Indonesia’s coast. Doubilet likens this style of evening diving—being carried by the currents—to drifting by area. “The only way to know which is up is to look at which route the bubbles are going,” he suggests.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
This juvenile trevally has concealed by itself within a jellyfish to escape the recognize of predators in close proximity to Moalboal, Philippines.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
An amphipod hitchhiker sits atop a jellyfish.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
Zooplankton—such as a jellyfish (remaining) and a larval lionfish surrounded by very small, shrimplike amphipods (appropriate)—often swim from the deep towards the area at night to feed. Diving in the open up ocean right after sundown is “a grandstand seat to a parade of the most peculiar and exotic creatures in the globe,” Doubilet claims.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes
This sea butterfly is a cost-free-swimming snail that can be as tiny as a grain of sand whose foot has evolved into wing-like lobes that flap to propel it through the water.
Photograph by David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes