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UPY 2026 Behaviour - Winner
'Clownfish Hatchout'
Kazushige Horiguchi
This photograph captures the exact moment clownfish eggs hatch in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. In the late afternoon, my close friend Koji Matsuda told me that the eggs would hatch that day. Even before hatching, the parent clownfish carefully guarded the eggs, constantly watching for predators as they waited for the moment to come. I was able to capture the instant the larvae emerged. Holding a snoot in one hand, I carefully controlled the light so that it illuminated only the clownfish and their newborn larvae, allowing them to stand out against the darkness. I have been photographing clownfish for over three years and pressed the shutter countless times that day, but this single image is the only one that truly succeeded.
Judge's comment: The moment. We’ve never seen an image like this before. Kazushige Horiguchi not only shows the egg tending by the anemonefish, but amazingly the moment the babies burst free, with the adult looking on. We also loved the babies’ perspective of the adult anemonefish, which looks comparatively huge in the picture.
Alex Mustard
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