From the gaping jaws of a giant shark to the intricate dance of mating seahorses - the Best Underwater Photographer of the Year Competition reveals its winner

By SARA SMYTH

Jaws: Sam Cahir won first prize in the wide angle category with this spectacular image of the moment a mako shark opens its jaws and swims towards his camera off the coast of Australia

Thousands of amateur and professional photographers slipped into their wetsuits and came face-to-face with extreme danger in the pursuit of the best underwater photograph of the year.
From an open-mouthed shark to the wreckage of a ship, the spectacular photographs taken from the depths of the sea baffle the imagination and show nature at its most spectacular.

Golden seabed: Thousands of entries mean the competition boasts a spectacular range of photographs. Here, a cloud of tadpoles float in the golden Campbell River in British Columbia, Canada

Hamid Rad won best in show with his portrait of a fish-eye view of the world. The picture, taken in New Guinea, won the reefscapes category and was selected as the best overall shot in this year's competition.
Thousands of photographers from 15 countries entered into the seven categories- compact cameras, divers, animal portraits, animal behaviour, reefscapes, surfs and sharks.

Graceful: This group of mantra rays were captured in a peaceful moment by an amateur photographer. Some of the winning entries include human subjects, such as the diver who is following in their path

15 per cent of proceeds from the entries are donated to marine conservation projects. More than £50,000 worth of prizes have been awarded to group finalists and winners.
The competition, in its seventh year, is part of a series of underwater imaging events and has become one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world.

Whirlpool: A diver on the seabed in Cabo, New Mexico, works next to a huge shoal of fish who swirl around each other

Swimming with sharks: You could be forgiven for thinking this image was photoshopped. A model darts through the water with a white shark n the Philippines

Close up: From the bulbous eyes of this tiny goby fish to its fluorescent lips, this image shows the benefits of compact photography

Watery depths: A large fish is encircled by a shoal of thousands off the coast of Eden Rock in Grand Cayman

Aquatic dancing: Two seahorses embrace in a mating ritual in Singer Island, Florida. This photograph won bronze in the animal behaviour category

source: more photos at dailymail
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Seahorses ‘are facing oblivion in 10 years’ after stocks are savaged by Chinese medicine industry

By TAMARA COHEN

'Facing oblivion': Conservationists fear that seahorses could be wiped out by the Chinese medicine industry

Seahorses could be wiped out within ten years, say conservationists.
Stocks are being savaged by the Chinese medicine industry which reveres them as a catch-all cure for everything from impotence to kidney problems and baldness.
Undercover filming found at least 150 million of the fragile creatures are now killed to make its products every year in China - seven times the official figure.
Campaigners say demand there is soaring every year, and claim some seahorse products have been found in the expanding network of medicine shops abroad, even in Britain where they it is illegal to sell them.

Marine biologist Kealan Doyle posed as a potential supplier to gain access to wholesalers, clinics and health stores in southern China.
He found one market in the city of Guangzhou sells 20million seahorses a year alone.
CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - say that is the size of the whole trade worldwide.

Controversy: A range of Chinese medicines, including a rhino horn have attracted criticism in the past

Mr Doyle said: ‘It’s a huge underestimate. I visited stores which had something like 30,000 dried seahorses in bags piled from floor to ceiling and there are 6,000 such stores in Hong Kong alone.
‘We are not talking about a slow decline here, this is an absolute decimation of this unique creature which has been with us for millions of years. At this rate, it will be wiped out in between 10 and 20 years.’

Medicines: Seahorses have been used in Chinese medicine as they are thought to cure baldness and kidney infection amongst other things

Seahorses have long fascinated humans. A fish with a horse’s head, a monkey’s tail and the colour-changing abilities of a lizard, they mate for life, and perform a mating dance together every single morning, at the end of which the female places her eggs in the male’s abdominal pouch.
The male which then becomes pregnant and gives birth, the only creature in the world to do so, having up to 4,000 young in one go, although only a handful will survive into adulthood.

source: dailymail

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Small, but perfectly formed: Breeding programme success as group of tiny seahorses born in Bournemouth aquarium

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Conservation effort: The babies are part of a captive breeding programme at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, Dorset, after eight rare male and female adults arrived in June

A group of miniscule baby seahorses have been born - measuring just 3mm each.
The little creatures were born at an aquarium and discovered by a keeper today when he noticed something floating at the top of the tank.
Upon further inspection he could see there were 15 perfectly formed, miniature seahorses. Their tiny stature is swamped by the smallest of items, even the tip of a pencil.
But despite being so small the fry are a good sign, as the Lined Seahorse - Hippocampus erectus in Latin - is just one step away from being endangered.

Tiny: A baby seahorse is dwarfed by the tip of a pencil

The babies are part of a captive breeding programme at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, Dorset, after eight rare male and female adults arrived in June.
The babies are being fed on a plankton called Artemia, otherwise known as ‘sea-monkeys’. In about 10 months time the fry will have grown to their maximum size of five inches in length.

They don't stay babies for long: In about 10 months time the fry will have grown to their maximum size of five inches in length

Gary Hicks, aquarist at the Oceanarium, said: 'I walked past the tank and saw a lot of small black dots at the top.
'If you didn’t know what to look for they could be mistaken for small bits of plankton. 'But when you get closer you can see perfect little seahorses.
'We only had the adults in about a month ago so we didn’t know they were pregnant, but luckily we have enough food here for them.'

source: dailymail

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How the seahorse evolved its arched head and S-shape body to become a better hunter

By GRAHAM SMITH

Beguiling creature: The seahorse evolved its arched head and curved S-shape body to help it hunt and feed, scientists said


It's a question that has baffled marine scientists for centuries.

Now researchers have revealed that the seahorse evolved its arched head and curved S-shape body to help it hunt and feed.

The strange yet alluring fish is completely different to its closest relative, the straight-bodied pipefish.

Scientists wanted to find out why the delicate seahorse had gradually adapted its body.

While pipefish have to swim towards their tiny prey, seahorses sit and wait for small shrimps and fish larvae to come towards them and then strike.

The seahorse's flexible arched neck acts like a spring that stores energy allowing it to attack more distant prey, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications.

It is a vital hunting technique to compensate for the fact the seahorse is a weak swimmer.

Lead researcher Dr Sam Van Wassenbergh, of the University of Antwerp, used high-speed film footage to watch seahorses operate at 66 times slower than their normal speed.


Modus operandi: The seahorse's flexible arched neck acts like a spring that stores energy allowing it to attack more distant prey


He then applied mathematical models to show how the 'bend and snap' of a seahorse's neck gives it a 20 per cent larger strike zone than the pipefish.

'They rotate their heads upward to bring their mouth close to the prey,' he said.
'Every extra millimetre you can reach becomes important because it means more food.'

The seahorse evolved into its beloved curved S-shape in order to use their bodies to obtain food in this way.

Dr Wassenbergh added: 'My theory is that you have this ancestral pipefish-like fish and they evolved a more cryptic lifestyle.'


source: dailymail

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