UPY 2025

UPY  Macro - Commended
'Yawning Bangai baby'
Patrick Neumann

This is a photo of a young Banggai cardinalfish yawning. These guys are all over the place in the Lembeh Strait, but are actually an invasive species that do not belong there. The good thing is you can find them everywhere in anemones, stone corals and black sea urchins, and photographers do not need a dive guide to find them.
They came to Lembeh by accident when a ship sank that had them as cargo and they escaped. Within 20 years there are now thousands of them. Mostly they are fighting with clownfish over a habitat. Nevertheless, they are an amazing, popular and beautiful fish.

Judge's comment: Subtlety can be dangerous in the early rounds when decisions are needed in an instant but this grabbed us visually and made us appreciate the well chosen, natural background and the, almost too subtle for it’s own good, swirl. This is a great example of why the UPY judging process is so unique.

Peter Rowlands