Select marine life photos- great white sharks, Fiji coral reefs, giant pacific octopus, humpback whales bubble-net feeding, underwater Sockeye Salmon images from Canada

We've created this new feature to highlight some of our favorite photographs from over the years, and to give you a quick, easy look into the subject diversity of our photo library. We will update this page monthly, so check back regularly.

	km2184. Photo of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) bubble-net feeding in Alaska. Certainly one of the top marine life spectacles on the planet, this all-they-can-eat herring buffet behavior sees up to twenty of these baleen leviathans working together to feast on baitfish during summer months. Whales dive below the school of herring or capelin, and then while circling release bubble streams which rise and trap the prey within a circular curtain of bubbles. The whales, growing up to 50' long and weighing up to 40 tons, then ascend with mouths open into the fish and gulp sea water and bait. This picture captures nearly twenty whales just as they erupt from the sea's surface with mouths agape. We have one of the strongest collections of photographs illustrating this exciting predatory behavior. Of course this coverage complements our class-leading library of dramatic breaching images, tail flukes at sunset, and underwater perspectives of this charismatic megafauna, still an endangered species.
	qm40210-D. Our photographs of Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) have been published on dozens of magazine covers, as billboards, in advertisements for multinational companies, and in editorial and educational products globally. This evocative new picture of an adult male "white pointer" swimming just under the surface was made recently on an expedition to South Africa's Dyer Island, one of the best places on Earth to view this apex predator. A shark cage diving industry is booming in South Africa, as well as South Australia and Mexico's Guadalupe Island. We have photos from all three locations. Though undoubtedly dangerous and responsible for dozens of human deaths, the white shark's nightmarish killer reputation is not statistically warranted. More people die each year from dog bites and bee stings than in attacks by all species of sharks worldwide. Currently some 50 to 100 million sharks are killed by man annually. The most feared "monster" on our planet has more to fear from us that we do from it.
	qe0097-D. Coral reefs are the rainforests of the sea. The Fiji Islands, in the tropical South Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia, have some of the healthiest, most colorful coral kingdoms we've ever photographed. Hundreds of species of fish and invertebrates thrive in this ecosystem. This digital photograph from the Bligh Waters area in central Fiji shows soft corals (Dendronephthya sp. and Chironephthya sp.), branching cup corals (Tubastraea micrantha) and Scalefin anthias (Pseudanthias squammipinnis) schooling fish along a wall at a dive site called GoMo, at 80 feet deep. In 2008 we scuba dived the Lomaiviti Group's most famous sites for ten days onboard the live-aboard boat Nai'a, a pioneer of diving in Fiji. We have shot in this island nation many times before and it remains one of our favorite tropical destinations for underwater photography. Browse through hundreds of Fijian marine life photos on our web site using our keyword search engine, or give us a call and we'll prepare a custom submission for you. We can also deliver complete articles (photos and text packages).
	pp0067-D. A Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) interacting with Melissa Cole (model released) in British Columbia, Canada. The world's largest species of octopus, it's an intelligent and often curious invertebrate which can grow to over 15' wide tentacle tip to tentacle tip. An encounter with this cephalopod is widely considered one of the most exciting sitings cold water divers can experience in the Pacific Northwest. They range from Alaska south to California. This high resolution digital image was captured with a Canon 1Dsmark II camera while diving off Vancouver Island. Giant Octopus feed primarily on clams and crabs and are masters of camouflage. Amazingly enough they live only four or five years on average. Females guard and care for thousands of rice grain-sized eggs they deposit under rocks.
	mb149. This underwater picture from our Sockeye Salmon collection depicts the endangered Pacific Salmonid species in spawning coloration and was taken in freshwater in the Adams River in the interior of British Columbia during October. After three to four years living in the Pacific Ocean, sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), sometimes called "red salmon", swim back up the river in which they were born. They are on a mission to spawn and die. Their bodies change color from silver to red, and a male's snout transforms into a hooked beak. After a grueling trek upriver hundreds of miles, their energy spent and bodies wasting away (they do not feed once they enter freshwater), they summon the strength for one final act. Males and females pair up in shallow stream beds with just the right size gravel free of sediment. The smaller female excavates a nest or "redd" in which she deposits small pink eggs, which the male then fertilizes. Shortly after the parents will die, and their decomposing carcasses will enrich the river system for the next generation. The saga of the saga is an amazing, inspirational story. We also have photo coverage of the other four Pacific salmon species- chinooks (kings), pinks (humpbacked), coho (silver), and chum (dog).