UPY 2025

UPY  Behaviour - Commended
'Hitchhiker'
Steven Kovacs

One of the great joys of blackwater diving is the privilege of seeing uncommon subjects that very few divers get to experience. One of these special subjects is the Paper Nautilus, Argonauta species. Argonautidae are a group of pelagic octopuses where only the female secretes a paper-thin egg case which she uses to reside in and shelter her eggs. The females with their shells are fairly rare to find off the coast of Florida where they are occasionally found free-swimming or hiding in Sargassum. Even rarer is to find one, like the one pictured, riding on a Jellyfish. Thus I was absolutely thrilled to come across this tiny 1 inch female that decided to attach itself to a much larger Jellyfish, probably for protection and to conserve energy. The contrast between the octopus and the Jelly didn't provide for much camouflage but, fortunately, did allow for a nice portrait.

Judge's comment: Although the image show less behaviour than other images in this category, for me it had to be placed at least as a 'Commended' as the composition is very good and the visual impact just stunning. - Tobias Friedrich