The first whale sharks of 2012 have been sighted in Western Australia’s Ningaloo Reef marine park. Growing up to 16m long, whale sharks are attracted to Ningaloo’s warm, pristine water after the mass spawning of coral in March each year

Photograph: Nikki To/Rex Features

(Source: Guardian)

Yellow / spiny seahorse (Hippocampus guttulatus) female sheltering in meadow of common Eelgrass (Zostera marina) Studland Bay, Dorset.

Picture: Alex Mustard/2020VISION / Rex Features

A flowerhorn fish is displayed at the annual fish festival at a shopping mall in Bangkok

Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images

(Source: Guardian)

Sea lion pup portrait by Rory Moore on Flickr.

A humphead wrasse.

Photograph: Catlin Seaview Survey

(Source: Guardian)

Internet users can explore the world’s largest coral reef as part of a new research project, the Catlin Seaview Survey, a joint venture between Google, the University of Queensland and the Catlin Group. Tens of thousands of 360-degree, high-definition panoramas of underwater forests, grasslands and crags will be taken by robot cameras, mapped and made available on the internet as a result of the collaboration, which will seek help from a global audience to assess the health and composition of the 2,300km-long reef

(Source: Guardian)

A dolphin closes in on a squid in this night-time shot. Amateur photographer Todd Bretl found himself surrounded by a group of feeding dolphins in the Bahamas and managed to get fanstastic pictures by using his camera light to illuminate the squid and draw in the dolphins.Picture: Todd Bretl / National News and Pictures

Bubbly Beluga

Photograph by Dafna Ben Nun

The overall winning picture from the 2011 British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA) is this ethereal image of a jellyfish. It was captured by Richard Shucksmith at Sula Sgeir (meaning Gannet Rock); a small, uninhabited island 40 miles north of Lewis.

 © Jurgen Freund / WWF-Canon 

Photograph by Michael Aw
From “Whale Sharks,” National Geographic, October 2011

Photograph by Michael Aw
From “Whale Sharks,” National Geographic, October 2011

In a surprising interaction at sea, colossal whale sharks home in on fishing nets near the island of New Guinea—and fishermen dole out snacks to the pilfering beasts.

Huge schooling bumphead parrotfish in Sabah/Borneo, Malaysia

by Jürgen Freund

Great barracuda with Teira batfish, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea

by Jürgen Freund

A dugong feeds in the seagrass bed of Dimakya Island, Palawan, Philippines

by Jürgen Freund