Snowy-white northern gannets (Morus bassanus) plunge into icy waters off the Shetland Islands in Scotland in quest of meals on this action-packed {photograph}. The seabirds are nearly as large as an albatross, with a wingspan of as much as 180 centimetres. They’re additionally uniquely tailored to high-speed diving, with robust neck muscular tissues and nostrils inside their payments that may be closed to forestall water coming into.

The shot was one of the spectacular within the 2024 Underwater Photographer of the 12 months competitors, which celebrates the wonders of the marine world. Listed here are a few of New Scientist’s prime picks from the numerous entries.

On this photograph by Fabiana Fregonesi, a college of fish swarm round a wreck, forming a form resembling a ship’s sail for a fleeting second. The vessel, referred to as Virgo, was intentionally sunk in 2017 to change into a dive web site close to Recife, Brazil.

“The sensation I had on the time was that the ship was able to set sail, starting its journey in direction of an unknown journey,” Fregonesi mentioned in an announcement.

The attention of an jap gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) pierces this mysterious shot taken from simply above the floor of a saltwater lagoon in west Mexico. These marine giants are pleasant creatures, usually displaying their curiosity by approaching boats. The whales make one of many longest annual migrations of any mammal – from summer season feeding grounds within the Arctic southwards alongside the west coast of North America to the nice and cozy lagoons of Baja California, Mexico.

In stark distinction to the big gray whale, this 10-centimetre-wide organism was captured up shut in deep waters off the Philippines. The round topic of the picture is a pyrosome – a colonial animal that’s made up of lots of or hundreds of minuscule people referred to as zooids. Enveloped contained in the weird pyrosome is a bit octopus, simply peeking out.

This ravenous cormorant makes a beeline in direction of photographer Jon Anderson’s digital camera, after mistaking it for a fish. The extraordinary picture was taken in a kelp forest at a dive web site in Monterey, California, throughout a shiny summer season afternoon. Many cormorant species depend on these particular marine ecosystems to outlive; nevertheless, native kelp forests have declined 80 per cent prior to now decade.

Dozens of beachgoers in southern Portugal try to save lots of a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) on this unimaginable aerial shot.

“Collectively they push and chant, attempting to assist the large again into the ocean, because it slowly slaps its tail backwards and forwards and breathes closely,” mentioned photographer Nuno Sá in an announcement. Regardless of their finest efforts, the whale died a number of hours after beaching – crushed underneath its personal weight with out the help of water.