--- title: Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest Announces 2015 Winners description: One of the most prestigious underwater photo contests in the world has announced its winners, including rarely seen images of marine life. canonical: https://time.com/4175756/2015-ocean-art-contest/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-11T20:49:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:37.523Z article:section: Science og:title: See Winning Photos From the 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Competition og:description: The "Best of Show" photo is of a rarely seen eel in Hawaii og:url: https://time.com/4175756/2015-ocean-art-contest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bce8acbf68a1291/698878868e0601313146411e/1st-wa-ocean-art-2015-francesco-visintin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 1st-wa-ocean-art-2015-francesco-visintin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Winning Photos From the 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Competition twitter:description: The "Best of Show" photo is of a rarely seen eel in Hawaii twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bce8acbf68a1291/698878868e0601313146411e/1st-wa-ocean-art-2015-francesco-visintin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Winning Photos From the 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Competition > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Jan 11, 2016 8:49 PM UTC  "In the last summer a conjunction of several factors: the sea temperature rise in conjunction with coelenterates reproduction period and the decrease of natural predators, dramatically boosted the population of Rhizostoma pulmo. Then Mistral wind and currents concentrated thousands of individuals of jellyfishes in the shallow water of Versilia coast." - Francesco Visintin "In the last summer a conjunction of several factors: the sea temperature rise in conjunction with coelenterates reproduction period and the decrease of natural predators, dramatically boosted the population of Rhizostoma pulmo. Then Mistral wind and currents concentrated thousands of individuals of jellyfishes in the shallow water of Versilia coast." - Francesco Visintin Francesco Visintin. Courtesy of UWPG. by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Jan 11, 2016 8:49 PM UTC One of the [most prestigious underwater photo contests in the world](http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/2015-ocean-art-contest-winners) has announced its winners, and they include captivating and rarely seen images of mysterious marine life. More than a dozen photographers who specialize in capturing creatures lurking in the deep ocean blue took home over $70,000 in prizes in the 2015 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Competition. The contest, organized by the Underwater Photography Guide, is in its fifth year and attracts photographers from more than 50 countries, [according to Discovery News.](http://news.discovery.com/animals/top-underwater-marine-life-photography-of-2015-160107.htm) Photographer [Jeff Milisen](http://www.uwphotographyguide.com/oa15-1st-macro) snapped his winning “Best of Show” image of a larval cusk eel while diving in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, he explains on the guide’s website. “We had over 1,000 blackwater dives under our belt and none of us had ever seen anything like it, whether on Earth or boldly going elsewhere!” he said. The eel has “possibly never been photographed before or even seen underwater by a diver,” judge Scott Gietler said on the website. “These subjects are incredibly difficult to find, focus on, and light — a true winner,” Gietler told _Discovery News_.  "I was on a blackwater dive with a member of the Roddenberry family (of Star Trek fame) watching a parade of underwater aliens drift past when this larval cusk eel swam by. The external stomach helps the developing fish grow as fast as possible by eeking every last bit of nutrition from its every meal. Out of the four divers underwater that day, we had over 1000 blackwater dives under our belt and none of us had ever seen anything like it." - Jeff Milisen Jeff Milisen. Courtesy of UWPG.  "Every summer schools of Starry Toado Pufferfish start appearing at the Poor Knights Islands, off Northern New Zealand. Normally found in Pelagic waters, strong easterly winds blow the pufferfish into the marine reserve islands where they often survive for less than a few hours. The marine reserve offers a safe haven to many fishes but the thriving population of Jacks and Bream make short work of this exotic delicacy. As soon as divers enter the water the schools of puffers race over to seek shelter which is what they were doing when I snapped off this shot. Soon after I left the water about half of them had been devoured." - Irene Middleton Irene Middleton. Courtesy of UWPG.  "The picture has been taken in Ouemo's Mangrove This Tylosorus crocodulis was 20-25 centimeters long. The fish got used to me by swimming with him for multiple hours and days. I saw him attacking some other small fishes on surface around 6 times. Those where hidden in floating algaes." - Jack Berthomier Jack Berthomier. Courtesy of UWPG.  "The use of these particular filters makes the fluorescence of some animal species stand out. They are typically used in night diving, but for this photo I used them during the day." - Alessandro Raho Alessandro Raho. Courtesy of UWPG.  "In my dive I saw the whole sequence of mating between male and female, like a dance in the blue, so much emotion. When you split a portion of eggs is left out of the belly of the male, the situation is very rare and unique. This picture was taken while the horse tries to retrieve the eggs.Fortunately he recovered completely. The main difficulty for me was not to bother the horse in order not to lose the eggs." - Walter Bassi Walter Bassi. Courtesy of UWPG.  "In the last summer a conjunction of several factors: the sea temperature rise in conjunction with coelenterates reproduction period and the decrease of natural predators, dramatically boosted the population of Rhizostoma pulmo. Then Mistral wind and currents concentrated thousands of individuals of jellyfishes in the shallow water of Versilia coast." - Francesco Visintin Francesco Visintin. Courtesy of UWPG.  "A small filefish always camouflages in soft coral. I used 2 diopters which have very short focus distance for this shot, so I had to hold myself still to avoid scaring away this cute fellow." - Simon Chiu Simon Chiu. Courtesy of UWPG.  "Owing to the shallow depth of field of super macro photography, it is hard to get both claws, face and tentacles in focus. Therefore i had kept shooting when I felt all of these target points nearly rest in same focal plane. I took around 60 shoots in order to get the skeleton shrimp stay in the centre of the frame and all target points in sharp focus." - So Yat Wai So Yat Wai. Courtesy of UWPG.  "This photo was taken on the North coast of the Balearic Island Minorca in a place called Punta den Siulet. It shows a Felimare picta in a very nice pose. The problem was to bring the sun and nudi together in this shot because there was very little space for the housing and strobe. So I had to wait about 10 minutes. When I saw the result of the shot I just thought "in the end it was a good idea to let my buddy wait." - Roland Bach Roland Bach. 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