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Between Two Worlds

Tatsuro Kudo

Japan

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At the edge of the surface in Lake Toya, delicate stems rise above a dense underwater meadow. The contrast between the fine vertical lines and the soft green field reveals a quiet freshwater world shaped by light, stillness, and seasonal growth.

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Nominees

Underwater Meadow

Four divers drift through layers of blue, green, yellow and orange off Iwo Jima, Japan. Volcanic activity creates dramatic color variations in the water, forming an otherworldly phenomenon known as the “underwater aurora.” Captured with natural light.

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Bronze

Honorable Mentions

Into the Underwater Aurora

A thresher shark glides beneath a field of fish in Malapascua, Philippines. Backlit by the surface, its long tail forms a striking silhouette against the blue, capturing the quiet elegance of one of the ocean’s most distinctive sharks.

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Into the Blue

At Richelieu Rock, Thailand, a vast school of small fish is surrounded by giant trevallies and longface emperors. Predators move through the shifting mass, repeatedly breaking its shape as thousands of fish respond as one to every attack.

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Surrounded

Giant trevallies and longface emperors hunt together as a dense school of small fish gathers along the reef. Different predators share the same opportunity, surrounding their prey in a brief, intense feeding scene where thousands of lives move as one.

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The Hunt Together

During a mass spawning of twinspot snapper, other fish gather to feed on the freshly released eggs. In this brief moment, spawning and predation unfold together—new life enters the ocean while others are already waiting to consume it.

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Egg Eaters

Moments before spawning, two-spot red snappers gather and rise toward the surface. Their bodies press tightly together as the school builds upward, capturing the brief tension before the release of eggs and sperm—a fleeting moment in the cycle of life beneath the sea.

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Before the Release

Deep inside Cenote Jailhouse, a cave diver moves through a labyrinth of ancient limestone formations. In complete darkness, carefully placed lights reveal a landscape shaped over thousands of years, while the diver provides a sense of scale within this hidden world.

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The Stone Labyrinth

Taken in Cenote Angelita in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, this image captures a diver crossing a dense hydrogen sulfide cloud nearly 30 meters below the surface. Submerged trees emerge from the haze, creating the illusion of an underwater forest suspended between two worlds.