Swimmy Blue

Photo by Bruno Van Saen

"One of the most beautiful appearances in the family of the moray eels is probably the Ribbon eel. It is also called the blade nose moray because of the two beautiful nose wings that typifies her. The male is always blue fluorescent with yellow fins and nostrils. Ribbon eels are almost always hidden in the sand, while other species of moray eels are actually more hiding in holes. A free-swimming ribbon eel is very rare!"

Location: Bali

Category: Macro

Wine Bottle

Photo by William Goodwin

"Whichever side I swam to, this bold octopus in a green wine bottle would turn to face me. 60mm on Sony Nex 5N."

Location: Blue Heron Bridge, South Florida

Category: Behavior

Hypnotic Eyes

Photo by Els Van Den Borre

"This Coleman shrimp looked straight into my eyes or was it the opposite way."

Location: Anilao, Philippines

Category: Macro

Blue Ribbon Eel

Photo by Suzan Meldonian

"Photographed with one snoot."

Location: Lembeh Straits

Category: Macro

Sweetlips in Motion

Photo by Christian Loader

"A tiny, cute, juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips appears to 'dance' as it continually swims with a frantic, wriggling motion. This was shot with a slower shutter speed to capture the movement of its fins."

Location: Makawide / Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia

Category: Macro

Photo by David Valencia

"Little is currently known of the elusive Giant Pacific Manta. There remains few places in the world you can interact with them like in Mexico's Revillagigedo Archipelago (Socorro Islands). This manta stopped and hovered, falling backwards slowly like a leaf in the wind. A behavior we have seen these Giant Pacific Mantas perform many times."

Location: El Boiler, Revillagigedo, Mexico

Category: Behavior

Ballet Dancer No. 1

Photo by Alan Lo

"Single-snooted lighting has been used on this beautiful candy crab."

Location: Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Category: Macro

Circle Back

Photo by Ricardo Figoli

"During a shark-feeding dive at Shark Arena, Bahamas, reef sharks put up a show around us."

Location: Bahamas

Category: Wide Angle

Nightmare

Photo by Davide Lopresti

"A detail of starfish captured with snoot."

Location: Liguria, Italy

Category: Macro

Mating Mandarinfish

Photo by Douglas Good

"Mandarinfish appear in pairs at dusk for only a very few minutes of mating activity. Magic Pier off the island of Buton delivered magnificent performances on three successive evenings."

Location: Wakatobi, Indonesia

Category: Behavior

New Life Under the Sea Urchin Shell

Photo by Jim Chen

"The Yellow Pygmy Goby (Lubricogobius exiguus) grows up around 30 mm in size and guards eggs that it sticks to the inside of its hiding place. It usually lives in pairs and can be found on mucky sand substrates — living in holes, under pieces of plastic, in cans, tooth-paste tubes or bottles. Its poppy-yellow colour and eyes reflect strobe light in green or blue colour — makes it stand out and an attractive critter for photographers, videographers and normal divers alike."

Location: Anilao, Philippines

Category: Behavior

Pilot Whales Diving

Photo by Ron Watkins

"A pair of pilot whales off the coast of Kona, California, surface and then dive down to join the rest of the pod of 10. This picture was taken while free diving."

Location: Kona, CA

Category: Wide Angle

Jawfish

Photo by Patty Woo

''Another diver was approaching and this jawfish was trying to show it's a threat by opening its mouth wide. I was lucky to be right next to it to take this shot.''

Location: Lembeh

Category: Behavior

Trumpet Fish Eye

Photo by Randall Benton

"The eye of a Caribbean Trumpet fish (Aulostomus maculatus) refracts light into multiple colors in Bonaire on Sunday, April 1, 2012."

Location: Bari Reef, Bonaire

Category: Macro

Photo by Jeff Milisen

"I was 5 miles offshore from the Big Island over thousands of feet of water. The pelagic plankton community is composed of body plans for which we have little comprehension that ascend thousands of feet to the surface every night to feed before sinking back to their deep daytime haunts. Its tentacles were very expressive and with a twitch of a sucker, the little cephalopod could show fear, anger or even curiosity."

Location: Blackwater dive/Kona

Category: Macro

Up Close and Personal

Photo by Ellen Rierson

"This friendly turtle stuck around me for a while and seemed to enjoy being the model."

Location: Bloody Bay Wall, Little Cayman

Category: Macro

Safe Haven

Photo by Patty Woo

"This yellow goby is extremely shy but curious. It keeps coming out to the bottle mouth to check me out."

Location: Lembeh

Category: Macro

Smile to the Camera

Photo by Rasmus Raahauge

"My dream came true when I got the opportunity to swim outside of the cage with these magnificent sharks, the Great Whites. The picture here though shows the provoked behavior you get when shooting from the cage."

Location: Isla Guadulaupe

Category: Wide Angle

Sea Lion Showing Teeth

Photo by Sean Sydnor

"This sea lion was coming straight at me. I had to get of a quick shot."

Location: Sea of Cortez

Category: Wide Angle

Mako Shark Chases Squid at Night

Photo by Tom Burns

"A large female mako shark makes a late-night visit. Attracted by lights, squid and bait fish were teaming by the boat."

Location: Geroges Bank, New England

Category: Wide Angle

Lion Fish

Photo by William Terry

"The hundreds of specs in the background are all fish"

Location: Fiji

Category: Behavior

Goodbye

Photo by Shane Gross

"As if to say goodbye the last sperm whale of our expedition disappeared into the deep."

Location: Sri Lanka

Category: Wide Angle

Playing Hooky

Photo by Terry Goss

"Nikon D300, Aquatica housing, Nikkor 10.5mm, Sea & Sea YS90 strobes."

Location: Rhode Island, United States

Category: Wide Angle

Afternoon

Photo by Steffen Binke

"Five manta rays feeding on plankton late afternoon. Gentle and fast with a high intelligence."

Location: Palau

Category: Behavior

Fun With Fish

Photo by Jason Sintek

"When not diving with pelagics in the famed passes of Rangiroa, what else is there to do you might ask? Over-under shots in the lagoon of course! House reef at the Maitai Resort."

Location: House Reef, Maitai Resort, Rangiroa

Category: Wide Angle

Here is a sneak peek at some of the submissions to our 2014 Through Your Lens Photo Contest so far. (Photos and captions courtesy of photographers.)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words: How about $1,000? Well, we think so! The grand-prize winner will receive $1,000 and a live-abroad trip on the Okeanos Aggressor (Cocos).

There are also fabulous prizes for the winners in each of the four submission categories: macro, behavior, divers and wide-angle. Prizes include live-aboard trips, scuba diving gear, gift certificates and more!

The fee for each image uploaded is $10, and for more information on the guidelines for the contest go to the scuba diving photo contest page.

Winners of the 2014 Through Your Lens Photo Contest will be announced with the release of our September/October print issue.

More Photo Contest Content:

2013 Contest Winners | Sea Turtle Gallery | Whale Gallery | 2013 Shark Photos