A portrait of a special moment between an adult seahorse and two newborns in French Polynesia has been named the overall winner of the 2026 Marine Photographer of the Year competition.
It’s impossible to know if the seahorses are related, but the image appears to show two newborn babies looking back at their father before departing further into the world.
Organizers also announced Wednesday the category winners of this year’s contest, which received thousands of entries.
Winners in the category included a dolphin riding a wave with a surfer in Sydney, a rescue worker trying to save a stranded pilot whale in Cape Verde, and a curious green sea turtle.
Overall winner Julien Anton, who took the seahorse photo, thanked the Tahiti and Moorea communities, saying, “It was their knowledge that made this image possible.”
“We spent countless hours searching in difficult conditions, with no guarantee of finding a single seahorse. That’s what made this moment so special. When the juvenile looked back at the adult, it felt like something much more than I could have ever hoped for,” Anton said in a statement.
Anton called himself a hobby photographer rather than a professional photographer.
“My hope is that this image will act as a bridge between science, conservation, and a world that deserves to know what’s at stake,” he said.
Will Harrison, the prize’s founder and director, said Anton’s photographs were “images that demand reflection, pause and think, and that’s definitely what we got.”
“This is ocean photography at its most powerful. It’s intimate, urgent and impossible to ignore,” he added.
The winners in each category can be viewed in the gallery above.
This contest is jointly sponsored by Oceanographic and Blancpain.
