James Cameron's new 3D IMAX movie, "Aliens of the Deep" (not to be confused with the hentai title of the same name) will open in the US on January 28.

I've always been (irrationally) afraid of deep sea creatures, at least ever since Michael Criton's Sphere, and perhaps even earlier still. I suspect it has something to do with these creatures being so in their element (able to detect their surroundings without light, move much faster than humans in water, not suffocating to death while under water, etc.) and having a clear advantage over us, should there be a dispute of territory.

IANAMB (I Am Not A Marine Biologist), but I wonder if shining light at creatures which have never experienced light before is "safe". I know that pains are taken to avoid flooding the water with sonar signals that might deafen and even kill dolphins and whales, so I wonder if the same sort of things might happen to animals which are not used to this level of intensity of luminance. I mean, imagine walking through your dark hallway at 3AM in the morning to fetch yourself a snack, only to have a team of scientists surprise you with lamps two hundred times brighter than the sun. You'd probably squint and get kind of disoriented or pissed.

The main difference is that dolphins and whales actually use sound for communication, and thus have organs to both send and receive sounds, whereas no fish (that I know of) uses light to communicate (except for that fish with a dangly light thing, which for some reason attracts smaller fish for food or something).I suppose the animals that NEVER get exposed to light would simply not develop any senses for it (e.g. eyes), and thus might be blind to the effects of light, but perhaps their skins would still be sensitive to ultra violet radiation? Would the fishes die of skin cancer faster, having not developed an immunity for ultra violet? Is UV even something that biological entities can develop an immunity for?