UPY 2025

UPY  Behaviour - Runner Up
'The circle of life'
Javier Murcia

This image is the result of many years working on animal behavior. A diseased species is usually easy prey for a predator since it uses little energy. In this case, a Mediterranean predatory fish (Sereranus scriba) has hunted a green fish (Labrus viridis), an endemic species to the Mediterranean and abundant in the Posidonia oceanica meadows. The moment was unique, the green wrasse swam slowly and roughly, it was probably sick, and a few meters away I could see the sawing hiding among the dense posidonia meadow to hunt it down. It was a matter of being patient and in the blink of an eye I caught it. It was so interested in swallowing it that I was able to get within a few inches without flinching. And so is the cycle of life.

Judge's comment: Boom! Great moment of the painted seabass engulfing the green wrasse, which is particularly involving as it has been photographed with a wide angle, making the behaviour pop out of the image, and the seagrass background and beams from the sun creating an ideal stage for the drama to play out. - Tobias Friedrich