Ever wanted to wander into a cave full of glowworms? Well, the American Museum of Natural History's newest exhibition, Creatures of Light: Nature’s Bioluminescence, gives you that chance and much more.

Most people are familiar with fireflies, and Creatures of Light looks at them, as well as "the alien-like deep-sea fishes and other fantastic creatures that illuminate the perpetually dark depths of the oceans."

Rare among organisms that live on land, the ability to glow—that is, generate light through a chemical reaction—is much more common in the ocean, where up to 90 percent of animals at depths below 700 meters are bioluminescent and where scientists continue to discover bizarre new bioluminescent species. Like the crystal jelly, whose glow led to a revolution in cell biology, these deep-ocean animals may hold important clues to essential questions. Scientists are in a race against time as marine habitats are increasingly threatened by pollution, overfishing, and global climate change.

The exhibition offers awesome re-created environments, like the glowworm cave, which is based on the Waitomo cave system in New Zealand, "where glowworms drop sticky threads from their bioluminescent tails to ensnare prey." Others include "a woodland floor with bioluminescent mushrooms and a meadow filled with fireflies flashing unique, species-specific patterns in eastern North America; an interactive re-creation of Mosquito Bay on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico, home to dinoflagellates, planktonic organisms that create a glowing halo around anything that moves through the water; and the Bloody Bay Wall, a remarkable coral wall in the Cayman Islands, lit up by fluorescent corals and fishes." Here's what the floor of the Mosquito Bay re-creation with dinoflagellates looks like:

There are also live bioluminescent organisms (flashlight fish! dinoflagellates!), plus there are interactive touchpads and videos allowing visitors to dig deeper into the phenomenon of glowing beings. Here are museum scientists discussing the exhibition:

Creatures of Light opens Saturday, March 31, and runs through January 6, 2013. The museum is open daily, from 10 a.m. till 5:45 p.m. The American Museum of Natural History is on Central Park West at 79th Street; ticket information here.