A cleaner shrimp (Periclimenes venustus) balancing on the snout of a black-saddle snake eel (Ophichthus cephalozona) is the winner of the 2017 Annual Underwater Photography Contest hosted by the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. The photographer, Marchione Giacomo, took the photo in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, and is one of more than 650 underwater images submitted for this year’s contest.
A panel of experts, including photographer and Zoo Miami communications director and Nikon ambassador, Ron Magill, and Rosenstiel School Research Assistant Professors Evan D’Alessandro and Neil Hammerschlag, judged the photos that came from 18 countries and 15 U.S. states. Awards were given in four categories: macro, fish or marine animal portrait, wide angle, and best overall submission. The competition also recognized the best UM student photo, which was of a Galapagos sea lion (Zalophus wollebaeki) taken by undergraduate student Joslen Beitel in the Galapagos Islands.
The annual underwater photography contest is open to all amateur photographers who earn no more than 20 percent of their income from their photography. View the winners of this year’s contest here. The ‘best overall’ prize is a trip on Blackbeard’s Cruises departing from Freeport, Bahamas. The ‘best UM student photos’ were sponsored by Divers Direct.
