Striking portrait of a seahorse farewell wins Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026
By Charlotte Reck, CNN
(CNN) — A portrait capturing an extraordinary moment between an adult seahorse and two newly born juveniles in French Polynesia has been crowned the overall winner of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2026 competition.
Although it’s impossible to know if the seahorses are related, the image appears to show two freshly birthed babies looking back to their father before venturing further into the world.
Organizers on Wednesday also revealed the category winners for this year’s competition, which received thousands of entries.
Dolphins riding waves alongside surfers in Sydney, rescuers trying to help a stranded pilot whale in Cape Verde and an inquisitive green turtle are among the category winners.
Overall winner Julien Anton, who captured the seahorse photograph, thanked the communities in Tahiti and Moorea “whose knowledge made this image possible.”
“We spent countless hours searching in difficult conditions, with no guarantee of finding a single seahorse. That is what made the moment so extraordinary — when the juveniles turned back towards the adult, it felt like something far beyond what I had dared to hope for,” Anton said in a statement.
Anton called himself a hobbyist photographer rather than a professional.
“My hope is that this image can serve as a bridge between science, conservation and a world that deserves to know what is at stake,” he said.
“It is an image that demands reflection, pause for thought, and it certainly got that from us,” Will Harrison, founder and director of the award, said of Anton’s photograph.
“It is ocean photography at its most powerful: intimate, urgent and impossible to ignore,” he added.
The category winners can be viewed in the gallery above.
The competition is co-presented by Oceanographic and Blancpain.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
