Shortlisted Finalist - British Photography Awards 2020
Water Life Category / People's Choice Award

This image shows the incredible Fibonacci nuts and bolts of a Purple sea urchin’s exoskeleton with its delicate, tentacle-like tube feet peeking out. Its architectural, venomous spikes are perfectly arranged according to the golden ratio. In contrast with the pin-sharp, angular spines its tubular feet are flexible and almost always active. Tipped with little sucker-like ends, these soft podia are used for movement and feeding.

Dive after dive I’d been on the hunt for the perfect sea urchin. Usually they come out to play at night but on this particular trip, night diving wasn’t on the cards. Most of the urchins were hidden away in rocky crevices. Every now and then I’d find one but positioning my camera and housing low enough for the right angle was proving a frustrating challenge. I finally struck gold with this stunning urchin, which was sitting bold as brass on top of the reef.

As an underwater photographer, I love taking something relatively ordinary and spinning a little magic to show that even toxic animals have a beautiful side.

Gear: Canon EOS 550D, Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens, Sea and Sea RDX550D housing with a standard flat port, Light and Motion SOLA 800 photo light, twin INON s2000 strobes.

Location: Isola Caprera, La Maddalena Archipelago, Italy

Photographer: Laura Storm