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Beautiful underwater photos highlight the Atlantic Ocean’s stunning diversity

Monitoring Desk

After sunset, self-taught photographer Steven Kovacs plunges into the open ocean around Palm Beach to shoot the minuscule, unassuming creatures floating in the depths. He’s spent the last eight years on blackwater dives about 730 feet off the eastern coast of Florida in a process that “entails drifting near the surface at night from 0 to 100 feet over very deep water.” Often framing species rarely seen by humans, Kovacs shoots the larval fish against the dark backdrop in a way that highlights the most striking aspects of their bodies, including wispy, translucent fins, iridescent features, and bulbous eyes.

Because Kovacs doesn’t have formal training in marine biology, he often enlists the help of scientists around the world to identify many of the rare fish he photographs. At the top of his list for future encounters are three cusk eel species and the female blanket octopus, a creature known for unveiling a billowing membrane that’s shown above.

Prints of Kovacs’s images are available from Blue Planet, and you can keep up with his underwater excursions on Instagram.

Male Paper Nautiluses, Argonauta species, in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Acanthonus armatus, the bethypelagic species of Cusk Eel, in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Left: Ribbonfish in Palm Beach, Florida. Right: Fish in the Ipnops family in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Brotulotaenia species of Cusk Eel in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Larval Wonderpus in Anilao, Philippines. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Larval Pancake Batfish in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Tripodfish in Palm Beach, Flordia. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Larval flounder in Palm Beach, Florida. © BluePlanetArchive/Steven Kovacs

Courtesy: Hyperallergic