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Winner, underwater. Creation, by Laurent Ballesta, France. A trio of camouflage groupers leaves a milky cloud of eggs and sperm. For five years, Ballesta and his team returned to this lagoon, diving day and night to see the annual spawning of camouflage groupers. They were joined after dark by reef sharks hunting the fish. Spawning happens around the full moon in July, when up to 20,000 fish gather in Fakarava in a narrow, southern channel linking the lagoon with the ocean. Overfishing threatens this species, but here the fish are protected within a biosphere reserve. (Photo by Laurent Ballesta/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021)
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