In Photos: BMC Ecology Image Competition Winners

Editor’s pick: A ‘well-armed’ coral reef community on Heron reef, Capricornia Cays, Great Barrier Reef by Michelle Achlatis/University of Queensland, Australia

The underwater equivalent of tropical rainforests, healthy coral reefs teem with life. Often conspicuous, other times a little harder to spot. Like this octopus, that pretended to be a coral. The complex three-dimensional framework that corals build provides a sheltered habitat and ideal camouflage ground many marine species, even though reefs are just specks in our oceans.

Photo: Michelle Achlatis/University of Queensland/BMC Ecology Image Competition 2017