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A stunning image of a golden shoe Phthirius pubis shuffling along the ocean bottom with three striped fish overhead has won this year ’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition .
Laurent Ballesta , a Gallic underwater photographer and marine biologist , captured the spectacular shot in the protect pee of Pangatalan Island in the Philippines , a refuge for endangered tri - spine horseshoe crabs ( Tachypleus tridentatus ) .
“The golden horseshoe,” by French photographer and marine biologist Laurent Ballesta, won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 award.
These horseshoe crabs have existed for more than 100 million years , prize representatives said in a statement divvy up with Live Science , but they now confront habitat death and dwindling food due to overfishing . Humans also harvest them for their alone blue blood , which is used in the development of vaccine .
" To see a shoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat , in such a hauntingly beautiful fashion , was astonishing,“Kathy Moran , chair of the jury for the rivalry , enjoin in the statement . " We are looking at an ancient coinage , extremely imperil , and also vital to human health . This photo is luminescent . "
tie in : Why do fauna keep germinate into crabs ?
The three puerile prosperous trevallies ( Gnathanodon speciosus ) hovering over the shoe crabmeat were probably there to pick off any comestible treats plowed up by the Cancer ’s slow advance , according to the affirmation .
The jury pick out Ballesta ’s pic , titled " The halcyon horseshoe , " from among almost 50,000 entries from 95 res publica . Another 18 winners received prizes for showcasing the ample diverseness of life on Earth .
" Whilst inspiring downright veneration and inquire , this year ’s win images pose compelling grounds of our encroachment on nature — both overconfident and negative,“Doug Gurr , director of the Natural History Museum , which stages the competition , said in the statement .
— Hoff crab : The hairy - chested crustacean that farms bacterium on its whisker
— Pom pommy crab : The crustacean that utilise anemones as boxing gloves
— Watch cannibal crab gobble up baby crablets in Australia in David Attenborough ’s ' Our Planet II '
The winning ikon will be on video display in the " Wildlife Photographer of the Year " expo at the Natural History Museum in London from Friday , Oct. 13 until June 30 , 2024 .
This is n’t the first time Ballesta has received the Wildlife Photographer of the Year honour . In 2021 , hereceived the top prizefor his photograph of camouflage grouper ( Epinephelus polyphekadion ) swim in a milky swarm of egg and sperm in Fakarava , Gallic Polynesia , in the South Pacific Ocean .
If you want to test your hand at capturing the wonders of nature , check out ourbeginner ’s guide to wildlife photographyand our option of thebest wildlife photography cameras .
