Sage Ono
Swimming among Stars
Juvenile flying fish and its reflection, United States, 2025
Category - Ocean
Blackwater diving is the practice of diving at night in the deep ocean to observe organisms that would otherwise be difficult to see during daylight against the endless blue backdrop. It tends to be rather hit or miss, but on this occasion in Florida, we drifted into a surface slick: an oceanographic phenomenon where internal wave motion condenses drifting matter into a productive soup of life. Near the end of the dive, mixed among the sargassum and decaying plastic, I saw this juvenile flying fish (Exocoetidae) reflected in the mirror-like surface. As it swam through particles – which could have been tiny plankton, eggs, or plastic – it created the illusion of a fish flying through a starry sky.
HONOURABLE MENTION
60 mm f/2.8 Lens - 1/250 sec at f/16 ISO 320