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Incredible pictures capture dazzling array of colour beneath the sea

From teeny-tiny to titanic, the University of Miami's annual Underwater Photography contest has captured the colourful creatures typically beneath reach and view while awarding a vibrant sea slug as the contest's star.

The contest held by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science reviewed 700 underwater photograph submissions before calling out the winners by category. 'The quality of photos keeps getting better each year,' UM lecturer and photographer Myron Wang who judged among the panel of experts said in a release by the school.

'Judging becomes more difficult when you have so many wonderful pictures to choose from. For me, there were excellent entries in every category but this year's standout was the great picture of the juvenile sperm whale taken by Douglas Lahle in Dominica. It is spectacular!' Mr Wang said.

But when it came to the overall winner, size wasn't the judge, however, with that title going to the neon headshield slug photographed in the Virgin Islands while crossing an emerald green plant, complimenting its glowing orange, blue and yellow body.
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Wide angle: First place for the wide angle category went to this spiraling underwater view, majestically captured by photographer Mark Fuller

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Third place: Wide angle's third place winner went to Bill Lamp'l for these pink soft corals and its surrounding orange scalefin anthias seen swimming in Fiji's Bligh Water

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Macro: These Yellownose gobies, one photographed floating upside down aside another, earned Todd Mintz the first place award for the macro category, captured in the Dutch Caribbean

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Second place: Macro's second place went to Davide Lopresti for his capture of a porcelain crab found in Indonesia's Komodo National Park

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Third place: Macro's third place winner went to Marcello Di Francesco for his orange, white and purple emperor shrimp, acutely magnified in Ambon, Indonesia

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Second place: The second place for wide angle went to Matthew Potenski for his view beneath an area of red mangroves in South Bimini, Bahamas

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Second place: This paddle flap Rhinopias earned Rockford Draper second place for fish or marine life portrait, taken in Bali, Indonesia

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Third place: This ghostly nudibranch won third place in Fish or Marine Life Portrait by Nicholas Samaras in Greece

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Fan Favorite: This sea nettle jellyfish swimming in Monterey, California earned Todd Aki the award of fan favourite through the Rosenstiel's website

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Third place: These sharks identified as a juvenile tiger shark and lemon shark in the Bahamas won Austin Gallagher third place in the student category

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Fish or Marine Life Portrait: This juvenile sperm whale swimming off the Caribbean Sea's island of Dominica earned Douglas A. Kahle the award for Fish or Marine Life Portrait

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