Rick swims through a shadowland thousands of feet deep. Out of the dark, animals can materialize not just from in front or behind, but above or below as well.

We’re down swimming around in that dark sea, looking in a miniature world and suddenly I feel a woosh underneath my armpit, and I think it’s my dive partner, and I look towards him and he points towards the surface, and there is an adult sailfish swimming right over our head feeding. That’s the last thing I was expecting.

Unlike swordfish and marlin, sailfish don’t see well in the dark. Until this image, the first of its kind, few suspected an adult sailfish would ever feed at night.

They are far more versatile than we’ve ever thought. This fish is taking advantage of the underwater light. It’s a kind of behavior we can only learn by getting into the water and spending a great deal of time in their world.

Then, drawn by the light, it appears, a miracle in miniature, a baby sailfish. It’s tiny but not defenceless. Though not all billfish are born with the bill, a sailfish baby comes into the world already armed. It has razor-sharp teeth, which it loses only as it grows larger. Its slick body makes it a formidable hunter even at only a few months old.

This baby is but one among dozens. Rick has found a nursery.

Launched on a life of perpetual motion, the tiny sailfish must swim constantly just to breathe. When it matures, it will travel 20 to 40 miles a day.

In a potential lifespan of 16 years, a sailfish will log some 200,000 miles. It is a superfish in the making.