light fantastic

A viperfish is ready to attack a deep-sea shrimp. (Edith Widder, ORCA)

The ghostly outline of a Japanese firefly squid. (Michael Ready / Visuals Unlimited / Getty Images)

Atolla vanhoeffeni jellyfish. (Edith Widder, ORCA)

Periphylla jellyfish. (Edith Widder, ORCA)

Jellyfish glow with the flow in the Gulf of Maine and the Weddell Sea. (David Shale / NPL / Minden Pictures / Ingo Arndt / Minden Pictures)

A cockatoo squid from the Sea of Japan. (Dante Fenolio / Photo Researchers / Getty Images)

A deep-sea shrimp spews bioluminescent material to thwart a viperfish. (Edith Widder, ORCA)

Finally, the kraken is captured: Widder worked with scientists last summer to obtain the first video of a giant squid in the wild. (NHK / NEP / Discovery Channel / AP Images)

[via Smithsonian Magazine]