3rd Place Nudibranchs
Kirsty Andrews
“Egg Eater”
The Story:
The pink in this photograph is the made up of the eggs of a Spanish dancer (Hexabranchus sanguineus), forming beautiful coils aptly named ‘Ocean roses’. In prime position within the curls is the much smaller nudibranch Favorinus tsuruganus, which feeds on the eggs of other sea slugs, such as these. This particular egg coil had around a dozen Favorinus feasting, and the challenge was to find an uncluttered composition of eggs and predator, where the pretty coils had not yet been demolished. I find Favorinus to be a stunning animal and shot some close-ups but I felt the beauty here was in the wider scene with pink eggs filling the frame. I visited the same site a couple of days later and the eggs were mostly gone.
Location:
Anilao, Philippines
Equipment Used:
- Camera – Nikon D500
- Housing – Nauticam
- Strobe/light – Twin Retra Pro strobes
- Lens: Nikon 60mm
Camera Settings:
- ISO 250
- F/11
- Shutter speed 1/250s




















