Laurent Ballesta (France) goes looking for horseshoe crabs in the protected waters of Pangatalan Island, the Philippines.
Using a tiny wide-angle lens, Laurent revealed this horseshoe crab’s anatomy beneath its shell. He focused on this individual, which was swimming close to the seabed in waters now green with plankton, following restoration work. Laurent aimed to focus on the side of his subject and despite not being able to look through his viewfinder, he managed to reveal what was beneath its carapace.
Horseshoe crabs are not actually crabs but are more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Their legs enable them to trot along the seabed and gather food. In adult females the first two pairs are scissor-like, whereas in males they’re hooked.
France
Laurent has authored 13 photography books on underwater wildlife. As co-founder of Andromède Océanologie, he’s been leading major expeditions for 10 years. He illustrates the underwater world as both a naturalist and an artist, whether that be capturing the first images of a coelacanth taken by a diver at a depth of 120 metres, documenting 700 sharks off Fakarava hunting at night or photographing the deepest and longest dive in Antarctica.
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