Amazing photos: Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 finalists revealed

14 August 2026

From baby seahorses and surfing dolphins, to mysterious caves and glowing fish, this year's Ocean Photographer of the Year finalists show just how amazing and unexpected life in the seas can be.

The annual competition celebrates photographs of the ocean and the creatures, people and places connected to it.

This year's shortlisted images show amazing animal behaviour, beautiful underwater scenes and some of the dangers facing our seas, including pollution and damage to ocean habitats.

Check out a selection of the images up for some of the final awards, in the gallery below...

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Image source, Ben Yávar
Image caption,
Thousands of sardines swirl around a freediver, creating a glowing circle in the water. The picture has been shortlisted in the Adventure Photographer of the Year category.
Image source, Gergo Rugli
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A pod of dolphins joins surfers in the waves at Tamarama Beach in Sydney, Australia. For a short time, people and dolphins shared the same ocean playground.
Image source, Leticia Carbajal
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Deep inside Yab Yum cave in Mexico, fallen jungle leaves have piled up underwater. As they rot, they create smoky-looking clouds in the water.
Image source, John Kowitz
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In the Fine Art category of the competition, five spotted eagle rays swim together above the sandy seabed, their dark bodies standing out against the pale sand as they search for food hidden beneath the surface.
Image source, ABDULAZIZ AL SALEH
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A male blue crab displays his large claws above the water while protecting a female in the waters off the coast of Kuwait.
Image source, Leighton Lum
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A Hawaiian monk seal, called Kaiwi, rests with her week-old pup on Kaimana Beach in Waikīkī in Hawaii. She will feed her pup for around six weeks without eating herself, while volunteers and conservation teams help keep them safe from crowds.
Image source, Francesca Page
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At the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, Cornwall, baby European lobsters are raised safely before being released into the sea. Each lobster is kept apart from the others, because young lobsters may eat each other if they get too close!
Image source, Julien Anton
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An adult seahorse swims with tiny baby seahorses in the shallow, seaweed-filled waters of Moorea in French Polynesia. Seahorses are now rare there, so the photographer had to search for a long time to find them.
Image source, Yuta Shigeno
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A pair of two-spot cardinalfish shelter above colourful Christmas tree worms on a reef in Japan. The worms stretch out their spiral feeding crowns to catch tiny food in the water, then quickly hide if they are disturbed.
Image source, Anita Verde
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A finalist in the Human Connection Award: People & Planet Ocean - A giant ocean sunfish swims in the clear waters of Mexico's Baja Peninsula. The pale fish approached the freediver on its own, creating a special and unexpected ocean meeting.
Image source, Suliman Alatiqi
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Take another look...Those are not teeth in this fish's mouth, they are baby Banggai cardinalfish!
The father keeps his young safe in his mouth until they are ready to swim away.
Image source, Matty Smith
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Young southern elephant seals play in shallow rock pools on Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands. Now their mothers have left them, they must learn to swim and look after themselves.
Image source, Yuta Shigeno
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This photo from the waters of Japan shows a male cardinalfish releasing tiny young fish from his mouth. He has carried and protected the eggs there for about a week, eating very little while they grew.

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Will Harrison, founder and director of the annual contest, said: "These photographs don't just capture what's beneath the surface; they surface the stories our planet most needs us to hear.

"As the pressures on our ocean grow, so does the importance of the artists who bear witness to them," he added.

"This year's finalists have produced work of extraordinary depth and courage, and we're proud that Ocean Photographer of the Year continues to be the platform where those stories reach the world," he added.

The winners will be announced on 10 September 2026.