Ocean Photographer of the Year: Stunning and Fragile Underwater Wildlife

Presented by Oceanographic Magazine and Blancpain Ocean Commitment, the Ocean Photographer of the Year contest celebrates the beauty of the world’s oceans and highlights the fragility of underwater wildlife.

Finalists in the contest were chosen in eight categories: Young Photographer, Wildlife, Portfolio, Human Connection, Fine Art, Conservation—Impact, Conservation—Hope, and Adventure.

The full gallery of 2024 contest finalists can be viewed on the Ocean Photographer of the Year contest’s official website. The category and overall winners will be announced on September 12.

Take a look at a selection of finalists from the Wildlife, Human Connection, and Conservation—Hope categories.

Andrey Shpatak photographed a Pacific octopus swimming in Russia.

Clayton Harris caught the moment a humpback whale emerged from the ocean in New South Wales, Australia.

Florian Ledoux took an aerial photo of a polar bear lounging on a patch of ice in Svalbard.

Jake Wilton got lucky with a rare sighting of a leucistic green turtle in Papua New Guinea.

Kate Jonker’s photo, taken in South Africa, shows an inquisitive octopus peeking out of its hiding place.

When Laura Leusko took this photo of mobula rays in Mexico, some of the rays started jumping out of the water as the drone approached.

Manuel Castellanos Raboso’s photo shows a mahi-mahi in the midst of a feeding frenzy in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Merche Llobera’s photo captures the circle of life as pelicans, sea lions, mahi-mahi, and sardines seek their next meal in Mexico.

Walruses rest on the beach in the Arctic Circle in this photo taken by Michael Haluwana.

Nataya Chonecadeedumrongkul provided a glimpse inside a hingebeak shrimp colony in the hollow of a barrel sponge in Koh Haa, Thailand.

Marine iguanas, like the one Rafael Fernandez Caballero photographed in the Galápagos Islands, can hold their breath for up to an hour.

Shane Gross spotted peppered moray eels searching for food at low tide on D’Arros Island in the Seychelles.

João Rodrigues visited a rehabilitation center in Portugal where a leatherback turtle was nursed back to health.

In Papua New Guinea, Noam Kortler photographed a fisherman in a traditional canoe catching sardines.

A whale-watching boat encountered a dead sperm whale in a moment captured by Seán O’Callaghan in Norway.

Tanya Houppermans photographed scientists conducting an ultrasound on a pregnant tiger shark in the Bahamas.

Scientific divers photographed by Ulrika Larsson encountered rough seas in Bab al-Mandab Strait, Djibouti.

Yue Hongjun captured a freediver swimming with a school of sardines in the Philippines.

A fisherman in Fujian, China, hung nets woven with hemp fibers to dry in a photo by Zhang Xiang.

Brook Peterson documented the stunning colors of a coral reef in Raja Ampat, Indonesia.

A photo taken by Dillys Pouponeau shows rays resting in the shallows of a protected area in the Seychelles.

Edwar Herreño Parra’s photo shows a whale shark swimming under a research ship appropriately named the Sharkwater in Costa Rica.

A clownfish hatchery in Indonesia, photographed by Giacomo d’Orlando, aims to revive the clownfish population impacted by overfishing.

Henley Spiers photographed a marine biologist working on a coral restoration project in the Maldives.

Megan Hassa also visited a coral restoration site in Bali, Indonesia.

Matty Smith documented a White’s seahorse swimming in Australia’s Sydney Harbor.

A Southern stingray photographed by Remuna Beca swam through a seagrass meadow in the Bahamas.

Shane Gross documented the release of a green sea turtle after researchers accidentally caught it while working with sharks in the Seychelles. Tobias Friedrich took a close-up shot of clownfish eggs in Lembeh, Indonesia.

In this photo by Tom Shlesinger, corals released egg and sperm bundles into the sea in Israel.

Source: Business Insider