Underwater Life

Photo © Audrey Jeane

1st classified

I Go Flying, I Come Flying
by Francisco Javier Murcia Requena


In this phase of their life the juvenile seahorses usually move holding on to any floating object with their tails. Sometimes they grab and swim on a piece of seagrass, seaweed, or on a piece of plastic. This time, the young seahorse moves using the feather of a seagull.

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2nd classified

Hunting California Sea Lion
by Nick Polanszky


Catching a sardine is not an easy task for the sea lion, since they’re protected by the huge numbers in the school. The sea lion will have to penetrate the school several times, hoping to separate one of them from the others, so that he can focus on his target and hunt down the s...

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3rd classified

Goliath in Lilliput
by Tom Shlesinger


Decades ago, due to severe population declines of the Atlantic goliath grouper, the U.S. state of Florida, where they gather to reproduced, banned the hunting of this species. In the shot, the massive grouper looks like he’s ‘emerging’ out of the school of small fish. The use of...

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Honorable mention

For Life, Towards Death
by Magnus Lundgren


This pack of dog salmons have just started their run up a cold Alaskan creek. The dog salmons undergo a dramatic morphological change in the river from being a silvery torpedo bullet to a river monster fighting the rapids, other males and for the best place to mate.

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Honorable mention

Sea Angels Face
by Nicholas Samaras


Raja radula ray. They can be found at 15-20 meters on a sandy bottom, where they feed on small crustaceans. When they swim, their underside looks like a smiling face, a face that definitely makes your mood whenever you photograph it.

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Honorable mention

Hey!
by Matthew Smith


The photographer has been trying to shoot a charismatic portrait of a great white shark using different techniques for years. Finally, he designed and constructed his own carbon pole and remote trigger: the sharks were instantly attracted to the camera. The wonderfully calm sea a...

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Honorable mention

Against All Odds
by Hannah Le Leu


A Green Sea Turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air under a sky full of hungry birds. This hatchling must battle through the conditions of a raging storm whilst evading a myriad of predators. Only 1 in 1000 of these hatchlings will survive: will this one survive against all...

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Honorable mention

Common Toad Moving
by Davide Vezzaro


Toads are funny and shy amphibians by definition. In the shot the simplicity of the greenish background is highlighted. The protagonists seem to be fleeing: the movement effect gives a touch of dynamism, which contrasts with the calm nature of these creatures.

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Honorable mention

Feast
by Scott Portelli


Green turtles will feast for hours on an unsuspecting giant jellyfish, starting on the soft tentacles and working their way up to the soft outer bell of the jellyfish. The jellyfish is one of the green turtles primary food sources and an easy to catch meal.

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Honorable mention

Dreaming
by Franco Tulli


The animal inside the small shell is a tiny octopus of about 4/5 cm of diameter. This animal uses the valves as a house to protect himself. This shot was realized using the snoot, a tube that goes over the front of the flash unit to create an adjustable, concentrated beam of ligh...

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Honorable mention

Passeggero Clandestino
by Domenico Roscigno


A sand crab approached a lung jellyfish when it settled on the bottom at night. They will continue part of the journey together. In the shot, the light piercing the depths of the sea illuminates the protagonists, highlighting every smallest detail.

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Remarkable Artwork

Love Bite
by Matthew Smith


It was a remarkable day for a dive, the photographer had been following a green turtle and taking a few images when he spotted these kelpfish behaving oddly. Sensing something was about to happen he crept up just as they began courtship.

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Remarkable Artwork

Hunting
by Damir Zurub


Stripped marlin hunting and feeding in a baitball in Magdalena Bay. Striped marlin are one of the few billfish that regularly work as a team to ball the bait up abasing the surface to feed off it.

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Remarkable Artwork

Pasto Opportunista
by Domenico Roscigno


A hermit crab caught feeding on a peacock wrasse corpse, in the main part of the Mitigliano cave. The hermit crab, with its bright colors, shines triumphantly on the lifeless body of the big fish.

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Remarkable Artwork

Moms
by Franco Tulli


In the picture, an unexpected event: large squids coming out of nowhere, like a fighter squadron, to carry out the task that mothering has given them, which is to oxygenate the eggs and thus favor the birth of the new generation. And then, as they appeared, they disappear.

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Remarkable Artwork

Gannet Storm
by Henley Spiers


A Northern Gannet swims through an artistic storm of bubbles created by dozens of these impressive seabirds diving down in pursuit of fish. The movement is blurred, the bird launches like a bullet: only the eyes and the beak stand out sharply.

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Remarkable Artwork

Sunset Feast
by Franco Banfi


This work aims to document the unbelievable recovery of this marine protected area, known as the southernmost breeding site of the California sea lion, in the Northern Hemisphere. In the picture, the fascinating skill and elegance of Brandt's cormorants, feeding on an almost endl...

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Remarkable Artwork

Visit to the Zoo (Plankton)
by Henley Spiers


Venturing out for a midnight snorkel, the photographer came across the densest zooplankton bloom he had ever seen, like a scene from space, or a scientific textbook. The zooplankton looks like constellations of stars and encrypted signals on a dark background.

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Remarkable Artwork

The Cloud
by Giacomo Marchione


Thousands of sardines live along the coasts of Cebu island. They form banks so dense that they obscure the sunlight. When any predator approaches, they move quickly forming whirlwinds or clusters, similar to stirring clouds during a thunderstorm.

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Remarkable Artwork

The Alien
by Noam Kortler


This arthropod, Phronima sedentaria, is a parasite of salp, a barrel-shaped planktonic tunicate. Once it has eaten the insides of the salp it lays its eggs inside. When they hatch the mother stays with the developing offspring, holding onto the tunicate and swimming through the w...

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Remarkable Artwork

Anemonefish
by Yung-sen Wu


Clown fish or anemone fish are fish of the subfamily Pomacentridae, Amphiprioninae. In the shot, the head of a clownfish emerges among the anemone's winding tentacles. They create a sort of violet wave, following the fish's movement. This is one of the wonders of the underwater w...

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Remarkable Artwork

Blanket Octopus Portrait
by Renee Capozzola


This image of a female larval blanket octopus was taken on a Blackwater dive. This animal was about the size of a golf ball and was seen over deep water at 10-15 meters of depth. She has her blanket-like cape curled up and is trailing a stolen jellyfish arm for defense.

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Remarkable Artwork

Shy Guy
by Andy Schmid


A Maldivian Anemonefish hiding within its host Magnificent Sea Anemone. All Anemonefish species live in symbiotic relationships with different species of Sea Anemones: the latters' stinging tentacles give the fishes protection from predators; and in return the fishes free the Ane...

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Remarkable Artwork

Our Big Bait Ball
by Boshen Qian


In the shot about fifty striped marlins hunting for giant sardines. The captain, so expert as to be able to accurately identify the location of marlins and bait balls each and every time he goes to the sea, admitted that he has only seen big bait ball of this size three times in...

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Remarkable Artwork

Longevity Meditation
by Daniele Comin


While free-diving in one of the daily trip from San Cristobal, the photographer noticed a group of Green Turtles kind of resting themselves. Conditions were very bad, but gently approaching one of them, he managed to take a couple of pictures and then let her keep on resting.

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