Under Water Pictures

This picture gallery showcases some of the year's best underwater photography as chosen by the judges of two major competitions – the Our World Under Water competition and the fourth annual Deep Indonesia International underwater photo competition. Prizes for the events were worth over $120,000 (£74,000). The two competitions attracted over 5,000 entries and winners were picked from 20 countries across the world.

"Underwater Sadness" by Ramon Dominguez – a sea turtle caught in a net in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico

A lonely diver traversing a cavernous underwater crack scooped the 2010 Deep Indonesia photography competition. The picture was taken by 45-year-old professional photographer Magnus Lundgren from Sweden as he was guided though the fissure in Thingvellir Lake, Iceland.

Stephen Holinski of Canada took Gold in the compact cameras category for his picture of a mantis shrimp with eggs

Briton, John Hill, took the Silver award in the compact cameras category for his action-packed image taken from the heart of a school of silver coated jackfish. An amateur underwater photographer, he was diving off Sipadan Island in East Borneo, Malaysia during September 2009 as part of a year he spent travelling south-east Asia with his girlfriend, Jenny. Luckily for John his prize was a week eco-diving in Monado, Indonesia, so he will be heading back to south-east Asia in May 2011.

Luc Eeckhaut of Belgium won Gold in the Macro Unrestricted category for his image, "Froggy and Shrimpfish", showing a frogfish and some shrimpfish in Indonesia

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