5th Place Marine Life Behavior

Greg Lecoeur

"Mantis Eggs"

Greg won a $100 gift certificate from Bluewater Photo or Bluewater Travel

The story:  Exploring the water of Lembeh Straight in Indonesia, I was scuba diving in the muck when I spotted a big hole. I was waiting for a while and then two eyes appeared. A mantis shrimp was looking at me. More and more confident the crustacean start to be active and go out its hole and I capture a close-up of this interesting invertebrate It have beautiful color, the most elaborate visual systems ever discovered and it is one of the strongest animals in the world. They use their fists to punch their prey, with the force of a bullet shot from a 22 caliber gun. Another character trait which I have been fortunate to witness is that it takes care of her offspring by wearing them with them.

Location:  Lembeh, Indonesia

Camera:  Nikon D7200, Nikon 105mm Lens, Nauticam housing, dual Ikelite DS160 strobes (F16, 1/200, ISO 100)

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