Beautiful winners from the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018 competition

The world under water is as mysterious to many of us as the Moon and the stars, but intrepid underwater photographers are braving the deep to capture stunning, captivating and extraordinary images of life under the waves. The annual Underwater Photographer of the Year competition celebrates the best of these pictures, and the UPY2018 is one of the best collections yet.

Here are the first, second and third place images in each of the categories but you can see the full set of winners, runners-up and highly commended underwater photos at underwaterphotographeroftheyear.com.

All images © UPY2018

Humpback whale spy hopping

Wide Angle Winner - Greg Lecoeur (France)

Surrounded

Wide Angle Runner Up - Fan Ping (China)

Sunset Snorkel

Wide Angle Third - Brook Peterson (United States)

Seahorse Density

Macro Winner - Shane Gross (Canada)

Friend or Food?!

Macro Runner Up - Songda Cai (China)

The Shadow

Macro Third - Kenji Cheow (Malaysia)

CYCLE-WAR

Wrecks Winner - Tobias Friedrich (Germany)

Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018

Safe Navigation

Wrecks Runner Up - Gianni Pecchiar (Italy)

TRUCK-NOBIA

Wrecks Third - Tobias Friedrich (Germany)

The fisherman

Behaviour Winner - Filippo Borghi (Italy)

In Hinding

Behaviour Runner Up - Scott Tuason (Philippines)

Gannets feeding

Behaviour Third - Greg Lecoeur (France)

A sand tiger shark surrounded by tiny bait fish

Portrait Winner - Tanya Houppermans (United States)

The nose

Portrait Runner Up - Mike Korostelev (Russian Federation)

Under The Wave

Portrait Third - Rodney Bursiel (United States)

Crocodile reflections

Black & White Winner - Borut Furlan (Slovenia)

Graceful manta

Black & White Runner Up - Sylvie Ayer (Switzerland)

Angels of the Deep

Black & White Third - Santosh Shanmuga (United States)

Dancing with the giants

Compact Winner - Simone Matucci (New Zealand)

Flower power © Jack BERTHOMIER/UPY2018

Compact Runner Up - Jack BERTHOMIER (New Caledonia)

Frogfish Illusion

Compact Third - Ipah Uid (Malaysia)

ROAR

Up & Coming Winner - ABDUL RAHMAN JAMALUDIN (Malaysia)

Up and Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018

The Hammer

Up & Coming Runner Up - Jacob Degee (Poland)

Migration

Up & Coming Third - Austin Ferguson (United States)

Love Birds

British Waters Wide Angle Winner - Grant Thomas (United Kingdom)

British Underwater Photographer of the Year 2018

Shark Speed

British Waters Wide Angle Runner Up - Nicholas More (United Kingdom)

Fresh Otter at Sea

British Waters Wide Angle Third - Greg Lecoeur (France)

How many pike?

British Waters Wide Angle Highly Commended - Tony Stephenson (United Kingdom)

Most Promising British Underwater Photographer 2018

Battle of the Tompots

British Waters Macro Winner - Henley Spiers (United Kingdom)

Topshell tapestry

British Waters Macro Runner Up - Cathy Lewis (United Kingdom)

Colourful Corkwing

British Waters Macro Third - Kirsty Andrews (United Kingdom)

Scratchy Seal

British Waters Compact Winner - Vicky Paynter (United Kingdom)

Intertwined Mute Swans

British Waters Compact Runner Up - Ian Wade (United Kingdom)

Curled Octopus

British Waters Compact Third - James Lynott (United Kingdom)

Follow Science Focus on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flipboard