From DIVE's special night diving issue

Here's a taster of some of the treats in our special night issue - printed on high quality art paper and beautifully designed

Above, one of Alejandro Prieto's jaw dropping images from a series of night dives with crocodiles in Cuba. He confesses his biggest obstacle to conquer was his own fear.

Below, Douglas David Seifert astounds yet again with a wonderful set of images of the nightly gathering of manta rays off the island of Hawai'i. The images of manta rays tumbling and swirling in a nightly carnival are a thing of wonder. He tells the fascinating story of how this has become big business and how some unscrupulous operators are cashing in on the spectacle.

Douglas also contributes a lenthy feature that takes a detailed look at the ocean's nightshift for our celebration of the dark side. His tour of the nocturnal underwater world will fill any gaps you have in your natural history knowledge. Here's just a couple of the images used to illustrate this essential guide.

The ever-watchful stargazer peers out from the substrate

Juvenile-stage pinnate batfish with colouration that mimics a toxic flatworm

The latest craze for the diver looking for the next thrill is black water diving. The biggest migration on the planet is the daily hike millions, if not billions, of tiny planktonic beasts make to feed near the surface. They are accompanied by startling armies of aggressive squid, legions of bizarre deepwater fishes and clouds of translucent gelatinous predators. If you head out into the black, open ocean and wait above the deepest, darkest trenches who knows what you might met. Photographer and writer Richard Barnden, who is based in Palau, provides an insider's guide with a portfolio of fascinating photographs.

The brown gonads of the jellyfish Nausithoe Punctata shows this is a female

A tiny paper nautilus drifting on a sea grass sliver

Squid are the most effective predators in the black water