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Leigh Howarth (PhD)

Photography

I'm lucky to have SCUBA dived all around the world. Below are some of my favourite underwater photos I have taken. Enjoy!

Velvet swimming crab (Necora puber) Velvet swimming crab are exceptionally aggressive for their size, but this guy looks surprisingly relaxed about me getting so close. I've never eaten one, but the sale of velvet crabs soars around Christmas time as the Spanish love to eat these festive coloured crabs!	Greater pipe fish (Syngnathus acus) Pipe fish are beautiful and incredibly tame. They wont move out of the way even if they are about to be accidentally squashed by a diver. These animals are very close relatives of seahorses.	Gannets in the Celtic Sea Taken from the RV Celtic Voyager on a research cruise in the Celtic Sea
Cheeky seal Farne Islands, Northumberland	Spider crab (macropodia spp) This spider crab is hiding within a plumose anemone. They are often called decorator crabs as they break off bits of seaweed and attach it to their body for camouflage, giving them a wild appearance and are often hard to spot.	Seal sleeping Farne Islands, Northumberland
Candy stripe flatworm Although it looks like a nudibranch (sea slug) this critter is actually a very elegant looking worm. You can see how small it is by using the sediment grains as scale. It's skin is almost see through, as you can make out its gut quite clearly.	Lesser curled octopus I'll never forget this encounter. My research assistant Lowri Evans really wanted to see an octopus. We were on the Isle of Arran for 3 months and on our final day we finally bumped into this little guy!	European lobster (Homarus gammarus) A lobster peeks out from its den. The feather stars seem to offer a great hid out.
Crystal sea slug I love this photo. It's so unusual to see a nudibranch out in the open like this. I love the many colours offered by the pebbles and stones.	Against the abyss A beautiful bed of feather stars against a blue back drop of weakening sunlight.	Long spined scorpion fish Long spined scorpion fish hiding amongst a bed of plumose anemones.
A curious seal Farne Islands, Northumberland

Patterned shells A curious juvenile green turtle in a rehabilitation tank on Isla Mujeres, Mexico.	Ghost crab Chumbe Island Coral Reef Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania	Yellow margin moray eel
Can you spot the fish? A stone fish: Highly cryptic, and highly toxic, watch where you put your hands divers!	School of squirrel fish Taken in the Red Sea	Clown fish hiding in its anemone
Meyers butterfly fish This is my friend Sarah's favourite fish species in the whole world. Naturally I spent the whole excursion trying to take a better photo of it than her. I can't remember who won, but it is a great looking animal.	Dotted Sweetlips Chumbe Island Coral Reef Park, Zanzibar, Tanzania	Reef octopus My first snorkel on Chumbe Island's pristine reef led to this encounter. It was bright red and had a revolving white strip pulsing around it's body, clear signs telling me to back off. It was memorizing.
Mantis Shrimp These animals are amazing in so many ways. First, they have one of the most complex visual systems on the planet, having 16 visual receptors (we only have 5) meaning they can see colours we have no idea about. They also have the world's fastest punch. They can cock their claw and fire it at the speed of a bullet, breaking the sound barrier, heating the water, emitting light and stunning their prey....	Porcupine fish These fish have the most amazingly textured skin.	Blue spotted sting ray By slowing the shutter speed and following the subject, this image really captures the motion of the ray by blurring the background.
Clown fish A cute nemo peeks out from his amazing bright, luminescent red anemone.	Starry puffer Almost missed this chap completely, he was so still. He just watched as I took hundreds of photos.	Purple anthia Anthias define the Red Sea, they are so common that they are often overlooked. But they are still beautiful.
Scorpion fish A scorpion fish sits perfectly camouflaged against a backdrop of blue. Shot in Mexico	Textured skin The use of flash has really helped highlight the amazing texture of these fish	Clean me! We found a cleaning station near the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt. These are sites where animals go to get cleaned by cleaner wrasse, to remove parasites and other nasties. It felt like someone gently pinching my skin.
The Indian Ocean These butterfly fish completely obscure your view when diving in the Maldives. There were so many!	Hawkfish One of my favourite species. They dart from spot to spot very quickly, but their pattern of movements are repeatable. So just focus on an empty spot and wait, he'll be back soon enough.	Cleaned by cleaner wrasse We found a cleaning station near the Blue Hole in Dahab, Egypt. These are sites where animals go to get cleaned by cleaner wrasse, to remove parasites and other nasties.
Orange striped trigger fish These fish can be highly aggressive and leave a nasty bite. This one, however, nibbled gently at my hand. When I looked up, I bumped into my first ever shark.

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