Ocean Photographer of the Year 2021 winners – in pictures

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From Western Australia to Norway, photographers around the world capture animals and plants in their natural environment – and under threat from human activity

• Deep impact: the underwater photographers bringing the ocean’s silent struggle to life

Main image: A young trevally shelters in a box jellyfish, Lembeh, Indonesia. From the Collective Portfolio award. Photograph: Galice Hoarau

  • Speleothems cast long shadows at Cenote dos Pisos in Quintana Roo state, Mexico. Winner: Exploration Photographer of the Year
    Speleothems cast long shadows at Cenote dos Pisos in Quintana Roo state, Mexico. Winner: Exploration Photographer of the Year

  • Southern calamari squid (Sepioteuthis australis) at night in Bushrangers Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Third place: Exploration Photographer of the Year
    Southern calamari squid (Sepioteuthis australis) at night in Bushrangers Bay, New South Wales, Australia. Third place: Exploration Photographer of the Year

  • Two male blennies in a territorial fight over a nearby female. Nominee: Collective Portfolio award
    Two male blennies – bottom-dwelling fish – in a territorial fight over a nearby female. Nominee: Collective Portfolio award

  • A sperm whale amid sargassum weed off Roseau, Dominica. Nominee: Adventure Photographer of the Year
    A sperm whale and sargassum weed, Roseau, Dominica. Nominee: Adventure Photographer of the Year

  • A freediver falls through an ocean full of moon jellyfish in the Raja Ampat islands, West Papua. Third place: Collective Portfolio award
    A freediver falls through an ocean full of moon jellyfish in the Raja Ampat islands, West Papua. Third place: Collective Portfolio award

  • A green sea turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air, to a sky full of hungry birds, Heron Island, Queensland, Australia. Winner: Young Ocean Photographer of the Year
    A green sea turtle hatchling cautiously surfaces for air, to a sky full of hungry birds. Heron Island, Australia

  • A lone blacktip reef shark’s dorsal fin is aligned with the setting sun in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Winner: Female Fifty Fathoms award
    A lone blacktip reef shark lines up its dorsal fin with the setting sun in Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Winner: Female Fifty Fathoms award

  • A manta ray feeds in the calm waters of Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia. Second: Female Fifty Fathoms award
    A manta ray feeds in calm waters, Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia. Second: Female Fifty Fathoms award

  • A gull caught on a ‘ghost’ fishing line (lost or discarded gear), Saltstraumen, Norway. Second place: Conservation Photographer of the Year
    A gull caught on a ghost fishing line, Saltstraumen, Norway. Second place: Conservation Photographer of the Year

  • A seahorse clings to a face mask, Stratoni, Greece. Highly commended: Conservation Photographer of the Year
    A seahorse clings to a face mask, Stratoni, Greece. Highly commended: Conservation Photographer of the Year

  • A dead moray eel hooked by an abandoned fishing line off Bodrum, Turkey. Winner: Conservation Photographer of the Year
    A dead moray eel on an abandoned fishing line, Bodrum, Turkey. Winner: Conservation Photographer of the Year

  • A freediver captures a photograph of a humpback whale, Réunion Island. Third place: Ocean Adventure Photographer of the Year
    A freediver duck-dives to capture a photograph of a humpback whale. Réunion Island. Third place: Ocean Adventure Photographer of the Year

  • A hawksbill turtle hatchling, just 3.5cm long and a few minutes old, takes its first swim from Lissenung Island, Papua New Guinea. Third place: Ocean Photographer of the Year
    A Hawksbill turtle hatchling takes its first swim at Lissnenung Island Papua New Guinea.

  • Diving gannets hit the water off the Isle of Noss, Shetland, UK. Second place: Ocean Photographer of the Year
    Diving gannets hit the water, Isle of Noss, Shetland, UK. Second place: Ocean Photographer of the Year

  • A green turtle, surrounded by glass fish, Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Winner: Ocean Photographer of the Year
    A green turtle, surrounded by glass fish, Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Winner: Ocean Photographer of the Year
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