4th Place Macro Ocean Art 2018 Jinggong Zhang
4th Place Macro
Jinggong Zhang
Beijing, China
"Dance of Love"
The Story: Sea horses usually have a long dance of courtship before mating. They will move in sync and swim around each other. After a few seconds, the female puts the eggs into the males’ pouch through ovipositor to complete the fertilization. Unlike most species, the birth of the sea horses are done by males. This mating photo was taken in Minamatashi, Kumamotoken in Japan. This species sea horses was officially recognized in 2017. To hide from natural enemies, sea horses usually swim out of hiding seaweed and mate at sunrise in the morning. After mating, they hide into the depths of seaweed immediately.
Location: Minamatashi, Kumamotoken, Japan
Equipment Used: Nikon D850 Camera, Nikon 60mm Macro Lens, Dual Retra Flash
Settings: F29, 1/250 sec, ISO 100
