Conservation Photography

Napoleon Wrasse – Photo taken in Palau Island – Jack’s October Underwater Photograph

a big fish in the wild ocean — Napoleon Wrasse

An exquisitely patterned fish, the giant yet gentle Napoleon wrasse is a favourite fish to encounter for divers in many regions of the world. This is because, in areas where they are still not wary of humans, they seem to actively seek out tactile interaction, and have even been known to form bonds with individual scuba divers whom the wrasse recognise and seek out.

Most often they will approach divers, using their constantly roving eyes to follow and scrutinise their movements. Look into its eyes and you can not help but be struck by this fish’s obvious intelligence and awareness. They seem to enjoy being stroked and will lean against the pressure of your hand. Sometimes it will even give a diver a gentle nudge or a brush, just like a dog acts when it wants to be petted.

The Napoleonfish can instantly be recognized by its size, colour and shape. It is one of the largest reef fishes in the world and is the largest member of the wrasse family. They can grow up to 230 cm and weigh 190 kg. They have fleshy lips and a hump over the head that is similar to a Napoleon hat. The hump becomes more prominent with age.

Colours vary with age and sex. Males range from a bright electric blue to green, a or purplish-blue. Mature males develop a black stripe along the sides, blue spots on their body scales, and blue scribbles on the head. Juveniles can be identified by their pale greenish colour and 2 black lines running behind the eye. Females, both old and young, are red-orange on the upper parts of their bodies and red-orange to white below.Maori wrasse, like all other wrasses, have protrusible mouths, with separate jaw teeth that jut outward.

Humphead wrasse spends most of their time feeding during the day. Adults are usually solitary, spending the day roaming the reef and returning to particular caves or ledges to rest at night. In some areas, they are very inquisitive, but in others where they are hunted, they are very shy. In the Red sea, it is a very curious fish, where the fish have been fed with boiled eggs. Nowadays it is forbidden to feed Napoleon wrasse with eggs due to the high level of cholesterol that was found in dead specimens in the area.

Napoleon fish are carnivorous and eat during the day. They can be seen feasting on shellfish, other fish, sea stars, sea urchins and crabs, crushing the shells to get at the animal within. They also crush large chunks of dead coral rubble with peg-like teeth to feed on the burrowing mussels and worms.Napoleon wrasse are one of the few predators of toxic animals such as sea hares, boxfish and crown-of-thorns starfish, and are therefore an important part of the marine food chain in maintaining a balanced and healthy coral reef.

Pairs spawn together as part of a larger mating group that may consist of over 100 individuals. The planktonic eggs are released into the water, and once the larvae have hatched they will settle out on the substrate. Adult females are able to change sex but the triggers for this development are not yet known.
Napoleon wrasses are extremely long-lived, known to survive for at least 30 years, and take around 5 to 7 years to reach sexual maturity, meaning they are extremely slow to increase populations.

This species is found throughout the Indo-Pacific oceans, from the Red Sea and the coast of east Africa to the central Pacific, south from Japan to New Caledonia. It is very rare in South East Asia thanks to the Asian restaurant trade and illegal fishing, but is very common in the Red Sea and the Maldives due to park ranger control.

The Napoleon wrasse is mainly found on coral reef edges and drop-offs. Juveniles can be found among branching corals in shallow lagoons, while adults prefer the upper margins of clear lagoon pinnacles and steep coral reef slopes to a depth of at least 100 metres, but occasionally up to 160 metres deep.

They move into shallow bays during the day to feed and tend to move into deeper waters as they grow older and larger. Adults, therefore, are more common offshore than inshore.

See more of Jack Fung’s underwater photography on Instagr am

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Conservation Photography

National Geographic Explorer Thomas Peschak to Receive 2025 Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling

This year’s award recognizes Peschak’s legacy of visually illuminating ecosystems, including the people advocating for them, while connecting audiences to the importance of conservation

Cover of the Amazon Special Single-Topic October 2024 Issue of National Geographic Magazine. Photo by Thomas P . Peschak/National Geographic.

Award-winning photographer and National Geographic Explorer T homas P. Peschak will receive the National Geographic Society’s 2025 Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling for his long legacy of conservation storytelling at National Geographic and beyond.

The award — named for the writer and photographer Eliza Scidmore, the first woman elected to the Society’s Board of Trustees in 1892 — recognizes individuals whose work focuses on immersive storytelling to advance our understanding of the environmental and conservation issues we face, with the ultimate goal of supporting societies in making the best decisions for a healthier planet.

While Peschak began his career training as a marine biologist specializing in human-wildlife interactions, he eventually moved to photojournalism after realizing his impact on conservation could be greater through storytelling to inspire change. Now, Peschak’s accomplishments are world-renowned, with 18 Wildlife Photographer of the Year wins, seven World Press Photo Awards, and most recently, the 2024 Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award — all for his significant work documenting some of the most crucial conservation stories of our time.

Ariaú River, Brazil – A pink river dolphin cruises in the shallows of a flooded forest in Brazil’s Ariaú River. Its unique anatomy allows it to swim easily through these waters. Narrow dorsal fins, long snouts and large, flexible flippers let the mammals slip in and out of submerged branches. “They basically fly between the trees,” marine biologist Fernando Trujillo says, “following the fish.” Featured in the Special Single-Topic October 2024 Amazon Issue of National Geographic Magazine. © THOMAS P. PESCHAK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

“Tom’s work is rooted in a commitment to drive meaningful impact. Whether documenting vital ecosystems, the plight of at-risk species or the stories of communities, his images open our eyes to the world, make it clear what’s at stake and inspire us to act,” said Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society. “Tom’s dedication to illuminating and protecting the wonder of our world defines his work, and it’s why we are deeply honored to present him with the 2025 Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling.”

Most recently, he was the lead storyteller on the National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Amazon Expedition, a multiyear series of solutions-centered science expeditions spanning the entire Amazon River Basin. Working with fellow Explorers and local communities, Peschak immersed himself in the basin for 396 days to reveal its aquatic and wetland habitats. The single-topic October issue of the National Geographic magazine was devoted entirely to Peschak’s stunning images of the Amazon Expedition. Starting with ice axes and crampons in the icy high Andes and finishing with scuba gear in the Atlantic Ocean, he created the first-of-its-kind comprehensive photographic archive of our planet’s most iconic and biodiverse river system.

Wolf Island, Galapagos Islands – A ground finch pecks at the base of a Nazca booby’s flight feathers and drinks the blood. © THOMAS P. PESCHAK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

To date, Peschak has photographed 20 National Geographic magazine features on various subjects, including manta rays, sea turtles, climate change in Antarctica and the global seabird crisis, the latter of which resulted from a Society grant in 2017. Seeking to address the loss of 230 million seabirds over 60 years, Peschak mined archives for images of seabird colonies in Peru taken 100 years ago and re-photographed those same locations, presenting these images side by side in an innovative multimedia display to visualize this staggering absence in the hopes of protecting this ecologically critical and unique species.

Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles Islands – Blacktip reef sharks wait for the tide to refill the lagoon at remote Aldabra Atoll. © THOMAS P. PESCHAK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

In addition to his extraordinary photojournalistic work, Peschak has written and photographed eight books, including “Sharks and People,” which chronicles the relationship between people and sharks around the world, and “Wild Seas,” a collection of photos taken by Peschak documenting the beauty and fragility of underwater life and wild coastlines from around the world. He has also appeared as a speaker for the National Geographic Live! series, having presented over 20 shows in 15 cities on three continents.

Mexico – A manta ray being cleaned by Clarion angelfish. Today these animals play an important role in tourism in places like Mexico’s Archipiélago de Revillagigedo Biosphere Reserve, in the Pacific Ocean about 240 miles southwest of Baja’s southern tip. © THOMAS P. PESCHAK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

“Photography and storytelling aren’t just about highlighting places with unique biodiversity, especially when areas like the Amazon basin are under siege every day from issues like overfishing, pollution and climate change,” said Peschak. “To capture the full scale, it’s imperative to highlight these challenges as well as the people who are facing them head-on: local communities, Indigenous peoples, researchers and other Explorers. The goal and hope with my work has always been to photograph places I love in order to help save them, so it is a true honor to receive this award and get to continue to work on important stories of conservation.”

Bahama Islands – Green sea turtles congregate near a dock in the Bahamas. © THOMAS P. PESCHAK/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

While remaining a cornerstone of storytelling work at the Society, Peschak continues to focus on marine conservation storytelling more broadly, serving as the director of storytelling for the Save our Seas Foundation — an organization he has been an integral part of for almost two decades. He is also a founding director of the Manta Trust and a senior fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Peschak will be honoured as the 2025 Eliza Scidmore Award recipient during the annual National Geographic Society Storytellers Summit in February 2025. To learn more about Peschak and other Explorers’ work, visit our website here.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

The National Geographic Society is a global nonprofit organization that uses the power of science, exploration, education and storytelling to illuminate and protect the wonder of our world. Since 1888, National Geographic has pushed the boundaries of exploration, investing in bold people and transformative ideas, providing more than 15,000 grants for work across all seven continents, reaching 3 million students each year through education offerings, and engaging audiences around the globe through signature experiences, stories and content.

Conservation Photography

Manta Ray Magic: Witnessing a Feeding Frenzy in the Great Barrier Reef – Photography by Aliya Siddiqi

While working at an island that’s known as “the home of the manta ray,” it’s easy for most of us staff to get jaded at seeing one or two manta rays…per day. Maybe they do a quick cruise past, or maybe a stop at the cleaning station. But when these mantas do aggregate around this small island on the Great Barrier Reef, those are the days that turn into pure magic. And it reminds us all as to why these animals are so spectacular to interact with.

Manta rays, more specifically Manta alfredi, are unique in the contrast between their large size and inquisitive behavior around humans. Despite reaching average lengths of three to five meters wingtip to wingtip, they are filter feeders and seek out the smallest creatures in the ocean to feed on. The diets of manta rays are found to consist mostly of different types of zooplankton, small creatures that range from microscopic single-celled organisms to the larvae of larger animals like crabs, octopuses, and fish. Zooplankton are heterotrophic, meaning that they obtain their energy from feeding on other organisms including phytoplankton and other zooplankton. In this photo series, all of those small dots sparkling in the photos indicate a high number of plankton.

According to scientists studying the island aggregation site, the higher biomass of zooplankton seems to be a result of “local concentration and retention processes around the island”. Though still unknown why these zooplankton blooms around the island happen, when it does become what we call “manta soup,” the foraging behaviour of the manta rays gives guests and staff some unforgettable experiences. The elasmobranchs ensure filter-feeding efficiency by looping around consistently in nutrient-dense areas. All one must do is stay in that same spot and wait for the mantas to swoop in and detour around you – though with strong currents, this is often more easily said than done. However, some days you get lucky when the weather window blesses you with no wind, high zooplankton biomass, and an influx of manta rays.

These photos come from a day like that, making it almost too easy for an amateur photographer like me to capture these charismatic animals. The mantas were swooping in and out, with some of the females displaying quite pregnant bellies. Like any aggregation site, tourism operators greatly benefit from the frequency at which these animals appear. Their docile and curious nature also makes them excellent flagship species for marine conservationists. Listed as Vulnerable to Extinction by the IUCN, these experiences with the public allow for an opportunity to discuss the challenges our oceans are facing, and why protection is of the utmost importance.

Conservation Photography

Cleaning Stations & Coastal Cruising – Under the Waves with Karim Iliya, October 2024

This is a turtle cleaning station. You can see the turtle in the back getting cleaned by a fish which eats parasites and algae off the turtle’s skin, shell, and scales. The turtle in the front is waiting its turn. This is a symbiotic relationship in which the turtles get cleaned, and the fish get a meal.

A Hawaiian green sea turtle cruises beneath the waves off the coast of Hawaii. This turtle was eating algae off the rocks, seemingly unaffected by the powerful turbulent water all around. When not eating algae, these turtles spend much of their time laying on the nearby beach .

Karim was published in National Geographic magazine for his humpback whale photography. He now leads his own trips so that others can swim with whales.

If you are interested in swimming with or photographing humpback whales, Karim guides people on small trips between August and October every year in Tonga. Visit www.dancewithwhales.com to find out more

To see more of Karim’s work, visit his website at www.karimphotography.com