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Seahorse 'Father and Sons' Photo Wins Ocean Photographer 2026

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French diver Julien Anton won Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 for his image of a male seahorse and two newborns in French Polynesia.

A single frame of an adult male seahorse trailed by two of its newborn young has taken the top honour at the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 awards. French underwater photographer Julien Anton made the picture in the shallows off Mo'orea, French Polynesia, capturing the three animals suspended against dark Pacific water.

Organisers Oceanographic Magazine and Swiss watchmaker Blancpain announced the result on Thursday. Anton's photograph first claimed the Wildlife category before judges elevated it to the overall grand prize. The competition drew more than 15,000 entries from across the world, spread over categories that included Wildlife, Fine Art, Conservation and Ocean Unseen.

Anton found his subjects only after long stretches of searching alongside local naturalists, combing through underwater seaweed beds where the animals shelter. He shot the scene on a rebreather dive, lighting the trio with specialised equipment. Seahorses have grown scarce throughout French Polynesia, and encounters are hard to predict, which made the sighting unusual.

The biology of the moment gives the image its charge. Male seahorses hold fertilised eggs in a pouch and deliver live offspring, so the picture reads as a father setting his young loose into open water. In the frame, the two juveniles appear to swivel back toward the adult.

"Winning Ocean Photographer of the Year is an immense honour - one I'm proud to share with my family, and with the local residents, naturalists and fishermen of Tahiti and Moorea whose knowledge made this image possible," Anton said in a statement on the competition platform. He added: "We spent countless hours searching in difficult conditions, with no guarantee of finding a single seahorse. That is what made the moment so extraordinary - when the juveniles turned back towards the adult, it felt like something far beyond what I had dared to hope for."

A silent judging room

Will Harrison, who founded and directs the awards, said the entry stopped the panel cold. "When Julien Anton's image first appeared on screen, the judging panel fell silent," he said in the announcement. "It is an image that demands reflection, pause for thought, and it certainly got that from us. The image is full of quiet energy, even if some of that comes from us humans imprinting our own emotions on the photograph: the bow of the father's head, the juveniles turning back towards him, the generational gap and the unknown futures of the newborns. What kind of ocean are we leaving for those who come after us?"

Winners from four continents

British photographer Jenny Stock took the Female Fifty Fathoms Award, which recognises women working in ocean photography. "To be nominated by fellow ocean photographers means more to me than I can easily express - this community is everything," she said.

The Ocean Unseen category, new this year, went to Japanese photographer Mitsuna Kawai for a blackwater shot of a ribbonfish off Japan. Australian Matty Smith won Fine Art with a black-and-white study of a nurse shark ringed by remoras moving in formation. In the Adventure category, Sydney-based Gergo Rugli captured wild dolphins sharing a wave with surfers at Tamarama Beach in Sydney. Spain's Miguel Serrano Ruiz won Portfolio for a month-long documentary series on olive ridley sea turtle conservation in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

The winning and shortlisted pictures go on public view at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney from November 19, the opening stop on the competition's global tour.

Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026, Julien Anton, seahorse photograph, French Polynesia, Oceanographic Magazine, Blancpain, underwater photography, Australian National Maritime Museum

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