The most amazing underwater pictures in the world have been revealed – including a close-up snap of an angry crocodile.
More than 6,000 pictures were entered for the underwaterphotography.com contest across 17 categories – from macro close-ups to wide angle shots, with two Brits claiming gold medals.
Tom St George scooped a gold in the Wide Angle/Marine Life category with his shot of a American Crocodile in Banco Chinchorro, Mexico, so close you can count the teeth.
And Christopher Llewellyn won the top prize in the Wide Angle/Wrecks section for a spooky staircase on the MV Karwela ferry wreck in Gozo, Malta.
An American crocodile pictured at Banco Chinchorro, off the coast of Mexico, so close you can count the teeth. British entrant Tom St George took the picture and scooped a gold in the Wide Angle/Marine Life category
Tanya Houppermans from the US got a silver medal for this shot of a lemon shark in the dappled sunlight of the Bahamas
A jaw fish, with its mouth stuffed with eggs, pictured in Indonesia by Chun Zhou, who won the Macro/Close-Up category. He said: ‘This has a hundred new lives in its mouth. It took me four dives to find it and then wait for this shot’
This picture of a spooky staircase on the wreck of the ferry MV Karwela, in Gozo, Malta, won gold in the Wide Angle/Wrecks section for Britain’s Christopher Llewellyn
This is a rare shot of the larval form of a Tripod fish, captured 600 feet down by Suzan Meldonian off America’s East Coast. She described it as a creature from the deep, originally found at 15,000 feet in the Marianas Trench
A weird fish with its mouth fully open was captured by Kerim Sabuncuoglu from Turkey, who was runner-up in the Wide Angle/Close Focus section (left); Chun Zhou also won silver in the Macro/Swimming section with a strange glowing octopus shot in the Philippines that looks like an alien
This Loggerhead Turtle in Australia, shot by Australian Mark Gray, won him the bronze in the Wide Angle/Close Focus section
Describing his crocodile picture, Tom said: ‘These are one of the larger species of crocodile, although they are not particularly aggressive.’
Swirling around the diver, a huge school of big eye jacks in Mexico won Jason Sintek from Turks and Caicos islands Wide Angle/Divers gold.
And an incredible shot of a Jaw Fish with its mouth stuffed with eggs in Indonesia clinched a gold medal for Chun Zhou from China in the Macro/Close-up category.
But not all the prize winners were obviously dramatic shots, with some of the ocean’s more delicate creatures caught on camera.
Chun also got a silver in the Macro/Swimming section with a strange glowing octopus shot in the Philippines that looks like an alien.
And the winner of that category was Suzan Meldonian from the US with a rare shot of a Tripod fish larva at 600 feet down off the American coast.
Website owner Tal Mor, who runs the competition, said: ‘Winning here, or even just being placed, is Underwater Photography’s most coveted accolade because it says you succeeded in the most competitive environment there is, against the top talent of the moment.
‘One of our medals is the reward for all the hard work they have put in chasing those great shots in far-flung destinations.’
Jason Sintek from the Turks and Caicos Islands won the Wide Angle Divers/gold for this school of big eye jacks in Mexico
Divers in the crystal clear water of a cave in Tulum, Mexico won Yuping Chen from China a silver in Wide Angle/Natural Light
This shot of a whale shark in Indonesia bagged Tracey Jennings from Singapore gold in the Wide Angle/Natural Light section
In the Over/Under section which features shots half in and half out of the water, silver medal went to Massimo Georgette from Italy with another American Crocodile, this time in Cuba
Winner of the Over/Under category was Jerome Mirande with this beautifully framed shot taken just off the coast of France