When looking at marine life—or even “hunting” specific species for your bucket list, as a photographer would—if possible, it is best to read up on your subject beforehand and try to gain a little more understanding of your quarry. There are four specific regions or aspects of the subject’s life that need to be explored and hopefully to have some understanding of.

Here, X-Ray Mag contributors share their favorite images from the tropical waters of the Philippines, Indonesia, the Maldives, Saba, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Honduras and Socorro Island in Mexico to the temperate waters of Türkiye, St. Lawrence River and North Carolina.

At the Bottom of the Sea

Text and photos by Anita George-Ares, Ph.D.

On a recent visit, I was sitting quietly at a dive club up on Denmark’s northernmost tip, deep in thought, reflecting on the dive I had just done with the club and their excellent dive boat, when a club member came through the door. “See what was just found on the nearby beach!” he exclaimed. In his hand, he held a large underwater camera housing with a dome port. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an Easydive Leo 3 housing with a Sony A7R3 camera inside, fitted with a 14mm lens. It was quite an expensive piece of kit—about €10K worth, I would guess.

(To see all the images in this article, please scroll down to the end and download the PDF.)

Here, X-Ray Mag contributors share their favorite images from the tropical waters of French Polynesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the Maldives, the Egyptian Red Sea, the Bahamas, Mexico and Malpelo to the subtropical and temperate waters off the US East Coast.

Marine Life Multiplied

Text and photos by Anita George-Ares, Ph.D.

Here, X-Ray Mag contributors share their chosen images from the tropical waters of Palau, Chuuk Lagoon, Indonesia, Palau, the Philippines, the Egyptian Red Sea, Mexico and Honduras to the subtropical and temperate waters off the US East Coast.

Inside Cenotes and Wrecks

Text and photos by Olga Torrey