Divers find unseen world harboring strange ecology in NATURE’s Springs Eternal: Florida’s Fountain of Youth.

According to legend, Spanish explorers believed that a fountain of eternal youth bubbled up to the surface somewhere in the place we know today as Florida. In a poetic way, they were right.

Beneath Florida lie hundreds of miles of underwater channels and caves that comprise the world’s largest known system of springs. Largely unchanged since the age of dinosaurs, these springs shelter strange life forms, support improbable ecologies, and dot the land above it with outlets of water that once — before the expansion of Florida’s human population — was as pure as any found on this planet.

With its abundance of alligators, sunfish, eagles, great blue herons, and of course, the gentle and endangered manatee — to name only a few of the state’s better-know fascinating creatures — Florida is a wondrous ecological laboratory, even on its surface. Below the surface, however, is where the real surprises lie.

Follow divers into dangerous and unchartered channels never before seen in NATURE’s Springs Eternal: Florida’s Fountain of Youth.

To order a copy of Springs Eternal: Florida’s Fountain of Youth, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Springs Eternal: Florida’s Fountain of Youth was originally posted May 2000.