Crabeater Seal: Best of Show and First Place, Coldwater. "During an expedition on a small sailboat, we explored the Antarctic Peninsula by diving below the surface. Although the conditions were extreme with a temperature of -1 degree Celsius, we documented extraordinary marine fauna at home in a fragile ecosystem, such as in this image: Crabeater Seal. Despite the name, crabeater seals don’t eat crabs. Krill make up to 95 percent of a crabeater seal’s diet. Crabeater seals have developed a sieve-shaped tooth structure that filters krill, much like whale baleen. They suck up water containing krill, close their jaws, and push the water between their specialized teeth, trapping the krill inside." #

Snaketooth Swallower: First Place, Blackwater. "This individual is called a snaketooth deep-sea swallower (Champsodontidae-Kali macrodon). It lives its adult life posed on the deep sediment, waiting for prey passing nearby. With a very large head and very developed pelvic and pectoral fins, it has a very different morphology from the adult." #

The Blue Arch: Second Place, Novice Wide Angle. "A single sardine is small, but a school of sardines is tremendous—especially when the water is clear and blue. To find the right ocean conditions, we surveyed several dive shops and asked if they could provide early morning diving." #

Treats from Maloolaba River: First Place, Nudibranchs. "The Mooloolah River is a rich treasure trove of nudibranchs. Over 350 species have been found along the 600-meter riverbank. The real challenge is to get a photograph that depicts the stunning form of these tiny creatures. I fell in love with Flabellina lotos in particular. I returned to the river every weekend for four months to try to achieve an image where the Flabellina's vivid purple cerata popped against a jet-black background." #

Toads: Third Place, Portrait. "In spring, this lake is filled with mating toads. I took this over-under shot with the intention of representing the pair of toads in their natural environment." Big Monticolo Lake, Bolzano, Italy. #

Icerock: Second Place, Coldwater. "We planned to dive underneath icebergs in Greenland, and made some holes into the frozen fjord next to some iceberg that were frozen in. The diver had some video lights on his camera so I used the opportunity to create some atmosphere with it." Tasiilaq Fjord, East Greenland. #

Blanket Octopus: Second Place, Blackwater. "This image represents a blanket octopus (Tremoctopus spp.) pictured during a night blackwater dive in Anilao, Philippines. Blanket octopuses are elusive and quite hard to find. When threatened, the blanket octopus extends its fleshy curtains to look like a disco icon." #

Plastic Soup: Third Place, Conservation. "It’s been almost three years since I moved to live in Indonesia on a small Island called Nusa Lembongan. On the neighboring island Penida, we have a healthy population of reef mantas all year around. This particular day out diving in Manta Bay was to become a dive I would never quite forget. It was the end of wet season so I was used to seeing clouds of trash float by after it's washed from the rivers around Indonesia into the sea. But this was something completely different than what I’d seen before. The mantas on this dive were attempting to filter feed in this plastic soup floating near the surface. Which obviously also contained the zooplankton they crave ... that is carried around by the same currents that brought the plastic. It was an immensely eye-opening moment for everyone I was diving with at the time." Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia #

Blended: First Place, Compact Wide Angle. "I had never seen or even heard of this magnificent king of camouflage prior to taking this shot, as it's a rare sighting that requires an equal balance of luck and persistence. The yellow-crested weedfish can be found deep among the kelp gardens of Shelly Beach, and is so similar in appearance to its environment that finding one requires active investigation. Its movements sway like the seaweed it buries itself in, its color almost identical, making it the ultimate master of disguise." Shelly Beach, Sydney, Australia. #

Spikefin Goby: Fourth Place, Supermacro. "This is a widespread but rarely found underwater animal. I was so excited when I came across her. It had been 11 years since I last saw her. The spikefin goby is very small, with a head about 5 millimeters wide and a body length of about 20 millimeters." Cebu, Philippines. #

Alciopid Worm: Honorable Mention, Blackwater. "During a drift dive off Tahiti, I came across this Alciopid worm. Theses worms are not uncommon offshore in open-ocean but most often have a threadlike body and are not very photogenic. This individual belongs to a species with a large and fleshy body that I have only encountered on rare occasions. He swam constantly, circling rapidly, and his body sparkled with electric-blue reflections. When it hit small crustaceans attracted by my lights, it sent small lures which emitted a particularly intense green bioluminescent light." Tahiti Island, French Polynesia #

Glass Fish Reef: Honorable Mention, Reefscapes. "As we descended onto the first pinnacle at the Four Kings dive site, we saw that the reef was covered in baitfish. Tuna and jacks were actively hunting, causing the cardinal fish to tightly hug the reef. I framed the shot with the seaman as the focal point, using the baitfish as the foreground and background. The extremely high density of fish was amazing to witness as they all moved as one mass to avoid predation." Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia. #

Hungry: Third Place, Coldwater. "I had planned to go out with [a] boat on Shetland Islands to shoot Gannets but the sea was too rough outside the bird cliff. Improvising we managed to instead find a couple of large grey seals in an area protected from the waves. I decided to use a long shutter speed to not only show the speed of the seal but also to emphasize the face." Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland. #

Seahorse Bus: First Place, Novice Macro. "Capturing six baby seahorses all facing in the same direction while sharing a piece of weed is an extremely challenging shot. These babies will often pull in different directions and face away from the camera. So I'm absolutely delighted to be able to share such a split second in time before this scene changed dramatically. Under Blairgowrie Marina has become a popular nursery for the birth of these baby short-head seahorses and also the bigbelly seahorses. I've seen as many as 20 babies sharing the same weed. You only have a short window of opportunity to capture this because their survival rate is so low." Blairgowrie Marina, Victoria, Australia. #

Sea Turtle Trapped: Fifth Place, Conservation. "A loggerhead sea turtle swims entangled in abandoned fishing gear, off the coast of El Hierro, Canary Islands. The loggerhead is classed as a ‘vulnerable’ species globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, but the northeast Atlantic subpopulation is listed as ‘endangered’. Entrapment in nets intended for other species, and in gear left abandoned by fishing boats, is the prime threat to marine turtles." El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain. #

Egg Release: Honorable Mention, Marine Life Behavior. "During a recent dive trip to Bonaire I was very fortunate to be in the water doing a night dive when, all of a sudden, the entire reef came alive. Thousands of brittle stars began climbing to the tops of coral heads in a synchronized event and began releasing either their sperm or eggs into the water column, hoping they would meet by chance and fertilize. This incredible event occurs only a few times during the year and I felt incredibly privileged, not only to witness it, but also to be able to photograph it." Bonaire, Netherland Antilles. #

Eye of the Tornado: Third Place, Wide Angle. "I've long dreamt of Cabo Pulmo's jack tornado, since being inspired by an image from marine ecologist, Octavio Aburto, some years ago. It is difficult to plan dives in Cabo Pulmo, because the National Park implements a first-come, first-served quota system for the maximum number of divers allowed on each site per week. To my surprise, the most popular dive sites were already closed upon my arrival. On the second dive day, we lucked out and found the jacks. Descending from the surface, I immediately saw the largest school of fish I’ve ever seen. One moment, they were a massive wall, blocking out the sun. Next, they were a 'river' of fish flowing from the surface to the ocean floor. And then they transformed into a spinning tornado around my dive guide, Moctezuma, who could see the surface through the 'eye' of the tornado." Cabo Pulmo National Park, Baja, Mexico. #

The Sheep: Second Place, Nudibranchs. "This type of nudibranch, very common in Tulamben, is very small and lives on a small leaf that moves with the sea current so it is not very easy to photograph with the snoot." Melasti, Tulamben, Indonesia. #

Snooty: Honorable Mention, Portrait. "Snooty is a large female lemon shark inhabiting the wrecks in front of Jupiter, Florida. Her smile and her ease around divers have made her a local celebrity. She's always one of the first sharks to come ... greet you when diving the Bonaire and she stays close by until the end of the dive. On this particular dive, I was focused on trying to capture her 'smile,' enjoying her willingness to play along." Bonaire Wreck, Jupiter, Florida. #

Clownfish Eggs: First Place, Supermacro. "My friend and dive master Ajiex Dharma in Tulamben was able to find these clownfish eggs and assist me during the shoot, holding the snoot in the right position ." Tulamben, Bali, Indonesia. #

Strange Encounters: Fourth Place, Marine Life Behavior. "Seeing cormorants hunting sardine is one of the many amazing experiences that a diver can experience at Los Islotes in La Paz, Mexico. While the dive site is most famous for its large sea lion colony, the cormorants can really steal the show! They are birds but are also extremely well-adapted to the underwater world. During a photo workshop that we hosted at the dive shop I work at, I was fortunate to spend a late-afternoon dive with them, focusing entirely on capturing this interesting behavior and the dappled light that many of us love so much in our pictures. The cormorant is speeding through the water column while the school of sardine breaks up, trying to make their escape. A matter of life and death." #

The Choir: Fifth Place, Marine Life Behavior. "Two juvenile sea lions (Zalophus californianus) play under a shallow rocky ledge near Islote Los Lobos, La Paz, Mexico. While they seem to be singing in perfect harmony, I do not remember hearing anything!" #