Playful seal pups shot clinches underwater photo prize

A pair of southern elephant seal pups playing in a rock pool on the Falkland Islands has won the top prize in the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026 contest.

Australian photographer Matty Smith's image, titled Rockpool Rookies, beat more than 7,900 entries from around the world to claim the overall title. The image took top place in the portrait category.

"Once weaned, elephant seal mothers abandon their pups ashore," Smith said.

"I watched dozens clambering over each other in shallow rock pools, awkwardly learning to swim.

"On my first evening, the sky erupted in colour and I captured a handful of frames before the light faded. It was the defining moment of the trip."

Marine ecologist Dr Alex Mustard, chair of the judges, praised the shot's split-level perspective, achieved with a custom dome port Smith built himself.

"Elephant seals were hunted right to the brink of extinction. Their oil-rich blubber was used for everything from fuel for lighting to margarine," he said.

"Their recovery over the last 100 years is a great example of resilience of the ocean."

Underwater Photographer of the Year is an annual competition, based in the UK, that celebrates photography beneath the surface of the ocean, lakes, rivers and swimming pools.

The competition had 14 categories, testing photographers with themes such as Macro, Wide Angle, Behaviour and Wreck Photography, as well as three categories for photos taken in British waters.

Here is a selection from this year's category-winning images.

French entrant Cecile Gabillon Barats took the Wide Angle category with a lively portrait of a playful sperm whale calf.

The tour leader and photographer, who is based in Dominica, described a remarkable close encounter.

"We entered the water at a respectful distance alongside the mother and her calf, watching as the mother prepared to dive in search of food, leaving her youngster at the surface."

"Almost immediately, the calf spun around and approached us, coming remarkably close, mouth wide open to reveal his emerging teeth, rolling playfully upside down."

Simon Theuma, a diver and underwater photographer, captured a striking macro image near Shellharbour, New South Wales.

The spot, a 15-minute drive from his home, teems with marine life and features frequent sightings of vibrant mosaic sea stars.

On this occasion, he photographed a tiny commensal shrimp, about 20mm long, perched on one of the sea star's arms.

"I always see mosaic sea stars, and their bright colours always catch my eye," he said.

Niclas Andersson, from Sweden, submitted this shot of the wreck of the Japanese battleship IJN Nagato - from which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is said to have issued the order to attack Pearl Harbor - it lies upside down in Bikini Atoll.

"On descent, divers are greeted by four enormous propellers, while the standout features are the twin stern guns, best approached from the port side," Andersson said.

The image, captured by a four-person team, was carefully staged to maximise safety and minimise silt disturbance in limited visibility.

Japanese photographer Kazushige Horiguchi won the Behaviour award for Clownfish Hatchout, capturing the precise moment eggs hatch under the parent's watchful eye.

Both male and female clownfish share in looking after eggs.

Israeli photographer Tom Shlesinger secured the Coral Reefs prize with a dramatic long-exposure shot of coral spawning, timed to a rare annual event lasting just minutes, resembling a meteor shower as gametes drifted in the current.

The image is part of an ongoing scientific-documentary journey exploring the vibrant nocturnal life and reproductive rituals of corals in the northern Red Sea.

Shunsuke Nakano from Japan, winner in the black and white category, captured a perfectly observed scene, framed through a shipwreck off Sado Island.

"Gorgonians fan outward like frozen breath, turning rust into art. Between them, a lone wrasse punctuates the frame, providing movement in an otherwise still composition," explained Nakano.

American Sam Blount was named PADI Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year for a symmetrical close-up of a leopard seal's jaws – one of Antarctica's apex predators – charging towards the camera.

"Watching that massive mouth lined with sharp teeth charge straight toward me is a thrill I'll never forget," said Blount.

Swiss photographer Manuel Wüthrich was runner up in the Compact category for this shot of a diver in the Cenotes in Dos Pisos, Mexico.

The judges were unanimous in their admiration for the quality of the photograph.

"The striking image from the Cenotes stood out immediately, made even more impressive by the fact it was captured on a compact camera."

Chinese photographer Jack Ho won the new Smartphone category, with a picture titled, The Roar.

The patiently captured yawn from a hairy frogfish was taken on a mobile phone in the waters of Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.

Evan Johnston captured two large sharks in the Sea of the Hebrides, Scotland.

The shot was one of the British Waters Wide Angle winners.

"Traditionally, single basking shark shots were celebrated but now images of several of these large sharks, not feeding but possibly building up to a mating ritual, are a most exciting phenomenon visually and biologically," said the judges.

In the British Waters Macro section, Tom Ingram's shot, titled Mum, showed a female octopus guarding her eggs in Cornwall, amid reports of an unusual population boom in UK waters last summer.

Kirsty Andrews triumphed in the British Waters Living Together category.

"The St Dunstan wreck in Dorset, England, is well worth a visit, full of life as well as interesting structures," said Andrews.

"On this dive I was immediately surprised by free-swimming congers roaming through the tumble of old dredging machinery, and then surprised even more by this tightly-packed group."

Italian photographer Ilaria Mariagiulia Rizzuto secured second place in the Save Our Seas Foundation Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year category for a poignant image documenting the rehabilitation of a sea turtle.

The photograph shows a large adult female turtle, estimated to be around 45 years old, being carefully transferred from a therapy tank into a transport tub at a marine rescue centre in Italy, before being released off the coast of Ravenna.

All photos courtesy of Underwater Photographer of the Year