Deep look at marine life helps mark aquarium anniversary

The aquarium, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, is displaying images selected by the Natural History Museum from the archives of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

The Deep’s chief executive Colin Brown said: “This unique exhibition is a truly great celebration of life in our oceans, featuring work by photographers round the globe. The selection includes some of the best images I have ever seen including many species that the Deep is involved in conserving – including sharks, turtles and coral.

“All the picture are very different – capturing very special moments such as orcas at sunset or a close up of the red spiky fairy crab.”

Len Deeley’s Big Fish, Little Fish, which captures the intimate relation ship between a silky shark and a single pilot fish, taken in the Sudanese Red Sea is among those on show. Mr Deeley, a keen diver, said: “It’s very typical of sharks – they often have pilot fish round their head. They may take parasites off the shark and sharks are messy eaters – that’s obviously of benefit to anything that travels with them.”

The images are on show on the third floor of the aquarium until January. Viewing is free and normal charges apply to those visiting the exhibitions.