21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
On the red planet

A tiny juvenile dragonet not more than a few CM in length sits ontop of a rusty underwater pipe. The tiny dragonet seemed lost on the textured surface of the vivid orange pipe rust where previous creatures had left their tracks across this man made object, a foreign planet placed into their environment. For me this image summed up human imapct on the underwater world, on the one hand the natural seabed disrupted by this orange scar an alien planet devoid of life but on the other marine life engaging with it. This particular pipe is often a spot where I find different species of nudibranch crawling across the rust.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 06.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Portland, United Kingdom
Camera: ILCE-7RM4A
Copyright: © sandra stalker