5th Place, Mirrorless Wide-Angle
Tanasit Tancharoen
“Mola Encounter”
Tanasit won a gift certificate from Bluewater Travel!
The story: Diving with Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) in Crystal Bay was truly an unforgettable experience. These gentle giants spend most of their lives at depths of 200 meters or more but do come up to shallower waters to rid themselves of parasites. The seasonal appearance of sunfish at Crystal Bay is well known and the underwater traffic can be quite hectic at times. Our group of 3 divers was very lucky to spend several minutes alone with this individual at nearly 30 meters depth before having to ascend. I waited facing the sun and took the shot as this sunfish made eye contact with my lens. Being the heaviest bony fish in the world, adults can weigh up to a ton and pose no threat to humans. Considered a delicacy in many countries and a common bycatch in drift gillnet fisheries, their status is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. A diet mainly consisting of jellyfish also makes them especially at risk from floating plastic litter.
Location: Crystal bay, Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia
Camera: Olympus OMD EM-5, Panasonic Lumix 8mm fisheye, Nauticam housing and acrylic dome, two Sea & sea YS-D1
