From Coral Reefs to Sharks, Stunning Underwater Photos

Few places in the world rival the beauty and strangeness that you can see beneath the ocean.

January 16, 2018 8:20 am
Lionfish, turkeyfish and coral reef, Pterois volitans, Indonesia, Raja Ampat, Irian Jaya, West Papua, Indian Ocean.  (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Lionfish, turkeyfish and coral reef, Pterois volitans, Indonesia, Raja Ampat, Irian Jaya, West Papua, Indian Ocean. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Around 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans and 94 percent of life on Earth is aquatic. There are anywhere from 700,000 and one million species living in the world’s oceans, and that’s what we know from just exploring about 5 percent of them. We know a lot less about the ocean  — and what’s in it — than we do about Mars or Venus. But very few places in the world rival the beauty and strangeness that you can see beneath the depths of the ocean. Check out some of the images below to see what life is like in a place humans rarely go.

A diver disguised as Santa Claus feeds the reef inhabitants in the Tropical Ocean Basin at the Sea Life in Munich, southern Germany on December 6, 2017. (SVEN HOPPE/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images
Nemo’s Garden project coordinator Gianni Fontanesi is seen inside one of the six biospheres making a video call to the company HQ in Genoa on August 2 2017 Nemo’s Garden is a research project sponsored by Ocean Reef, the scuba equipment manufacturer, to find sustainable solutions of growing vegetables underwater. The underwater biospheres containing mostly basil plants at this stage are constantly monitored remotely. The project was started five years ago and now counts six biospheres with more than 300 plants grown with an automated hydroponic system. Skype calls are possible due to a wifi connection available inside every underwater dome and commonly used to discuss the progresses of the project and to have real-time data analysis. (Getty Images)
Alessandro Rota
A purple gorgonian is seen during a rock bottom dive site -33 meters below the sea level on July 6 2017 inside the Egadi Arcipelago Natural reserve.
Alessandro Rota
Reef Manta, Manta alfredi, Cabo Marshall, Isabela Island, Galapagos, Ecuador (Reinhard Dirscherlullstein bild via Getty Images)
ullstein bild via Getty Images
A female scuba diver seen inside the wreck of the Numidia along the Big Brother reef in the Red Sea on June 09, 2016 in Big Brother Island, Egypt. (Andrey Nekrasov/Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Lionfish, turkeyfish and coral reef, Pterois volitans, Indonesia, Raja Ampat, Irian Jaya, West Papua, Indian Ocean. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Harem Flag Basslet and coral reef, Pseudanthias squamipinnis, Egypt, Zabargad, Zabarghad, Red Sea. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
ullstein bild via Getty Images
Squat lobster on soft coral, Galathea sp., Egypt, Red Sea, Brother Islands. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
ullstein bild via Getty Images
Great White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, Mexico, Pacific ocean, Guadalupe. (Reinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
ullstein bild via Getty Images
Common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) hunting on a coral reef, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, (Wild Horizons/UIG via Getty Images)
UIG via Getty Images
(Flickr)
Yudho
Adult green turtles are usually herbivores but juvenile turtles will eat crab, jellyfish and sponges, on February 26, 2015 in Byron Bay, Australia.
In an unusual sighting an unfortunate jellyfish was snapped up for dinner by two peckish green turtles. While searching for leopard sharks off the coast of Byron Bay, Australia wildlife photographer and videographer Craig Parry came across this odd feeding frenzy. Adult green turtles are a herbivorous marine turtle but juvenile green turtles will feed on invertebrates like crab, sponges and jellyfish if the opportunity arises. (Craig Parry / Barcroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Barcroft Media via Getty Images
This view shows the suckers on this eight armed cephalopod. Day octopus, Octopus cyanea, Hawaii. (David Fleetham/VW PICS/UIG via Getty Images)
UIG via Getty Images
Brown jellyfish with tentacles swimming in Kaiyukan aquarium, Kansai region, Osaka, Japan on August 19, 2017 in Osaka, Japan. (Eric Lafforgue/Art In All Of Us/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images
A humpback whale mother and her calf cut a graceful figure in the ocean waters in Vavau, Tonga, September 2016.
This free diver has explored the depths of the ocean to get close to these majestic humpback whales. Japanese-born photographer Kohei Ueno travelled to the island of Vavau, one of more than 170 South Pacific islands which make up the Kingdom of Tonga, to dive with the soulful creatures. Each year humpback whales migrate from their feeding grounds near the north and south poles to their breeding grounds along the equator, creating a humpback hotspot in the South Pacific Ocean between July and September. And this year Kohei found himself in the middle of an epic heat run – where all the male whales try to out-swim one another to win the females favour. (Kohei Ueno / Bacroft Images / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The contestant of Miss China play with whale shark at world’s biggest marine theme park on 17th September, 2014 in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China. (TPG/Getty Images)
Getty Images

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.