From colorful squids to baby sea turtles, the images capture the beauty of the underwater world.
Aimee Jan won the first-place prize with an image of a turtle surrounded by glass fish.
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These award-winning images from the 2021 Ocean Photography Awards capture the mystery of the underwater world. Aimee Jan's photo of a turtle surrounded by glass fish was the contest's winner.
Third place in the overall contest went to Matty Smith for his image of a hawksbill turtle hatchling heading out to sea. The turtle was just a few minutes old, according to Smith's caption on the contest website.
Stefan Christmann's impressive penguin photo collection, including this image of two emperor penguin fathers, earned the photographer the collective portfolio award.
Runner-up for the collective portfolio award was Matty Smith for his photographs of colorful marine animals, including this image of a striate anglerfish.
Finally, Alex Kydd earned the third spot in the collective portfolio award with a series of images they took off the coast of Western Australia and West Papua, Indonesia.
Second-place in the category also features the tragic outcome of fishing line. Galice Hoarau snapped this image of a seagull caught on a ghost fishing line in Norway.
This image of a nautilus — a type of marine mollusk — floating with a piece of trash earned Steven Kovacs third place in the conservation photographer of the year category.
For the first time, the competition added a "female fifty fathoms" award, designed to celebrate women photographers. Renee Capozzola won first place with her portfolio of work, including this image of a blacktip reef shark.
Jan, who won the overall contest, came in second place in the female fifty fathoms category with her image of a solitary manta ray feeding off the coast of Western Australia.