Translucent Sea Nettle

Photograph by Jim Patterson, courtesy ICPA

The translucent glow of a sea nettle off San Carlos Beach in Monterey, California, helped Jim Patterson take top honors in ICPA’s Underwater category.

This jelly may be beautiful but it can pack a punch. The animal’s venomous tentacles are capable of dealing humans a painful sting, and groups of floating nettles sometimes plague swimmers. The jellies use their sting to paralyze the tiny drifting animals that they hunt and devour.

Death Valley Badlands

Photograph by Trixi Huish, courtesy ICPA

Evening light casts a benign glow on the rough landscape of Death Valley, one of the Earth’s hottest, driest, lowest, and most inhospitable locations. Record highs have reached 134°F (57°C) and the area receives less than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rainfall per year.

A passing sandstorm helped set this scene for photographer Trixi Huish, whose image won first place in the Landscape category. Her Zabriskie Point perch also showcases another natural wonder—the power of erosion. Eons of weathering have created a mazelike pattern of badlands that captures the eye

Sunbeams in the Pines

Photography by Ethan Welty, courtesy ICPA

Ethan Welty rose with the sun to ascend Mount Baring, and captured its early morning rays as they fell through the fog and mists of Washington’s Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The shot earned Welty top honors in the Student category of the ICP Awards.

“The effect lasted only a few seconds,” he wrote. “Luckily, I precariously dangle my camera from my neck on such mountain forays.”

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Frilled Shark

Photograph by Awashima Marine Park, Getty Images

Humans rarely encounter frilled sharks, which prefer to remain in the oceans' depths, up to 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface. Considered living fossils, frilled sharks bear many physical characteristics of ancestors who swam the seas in the time of the dinosaurs. This 5.3-foot (1.6-meter) specimen was found in shallow water in Japan in 2007 and transferred to a marine park. It died hours after being caught.

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Giant Spider Crab

Photograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic

Thought to be the largest arthropods on Earth, giant spider crabs spend their time foraging on the ocean floor up to a thousand feet (300 meters) deep. These rare, leggy behemoths, native to the waters off Japan, can measure up to 12 feet (3.7 meters) from claw tip to claw tip. This five-foot (1.5-meter) specimen was photographed in Japan's Sagami Bay.