Sign up for free

Newsletters

Once a month
get new photos
and expert tips.

Photography
Main Photo Galleries Wallpapers Photo of the Day Photographers Photo Tips Buy Prints

Midges in Cueva de Villa Luz, Mexico, 2001

Millions of iridescent-winged midges like these throng the inky depths of Cueva de Villa Luz cave in southern Mexico. Hydrogen sulfide, which is poisonous to humans, permeates the cave's walls, streams, and air, sustaining a rich variety of bizarre organisms. Midges, bats, spiders, mites, amblypygids, and small, hemoglobin-rich fish thrive in the sulfur-saturated environment.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Deadly Haven," May 2001, National Geographic magazine)

Photograph by Stephen Alvarez