Jewels in the Night Sea by Photographer Ryo Minemizu

I do not think I am allowed to post these images online, but I mean, I am a rebel 😎 and besides, the world must know of life’s unfathomable beauties!!

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Japanese marine life photographer Ryo Minemizu focuses his lens on some of the tiniest and most abundant life forms in our oceans. His series Phenomenons explores the diverse beauty and extravagant colors of plankton, and is shot amongst the dark waters of the Osezaki sea near Mount Fuji and other coasts around Japan, the Philippines and Maldives.

Unlike as now that being shed by the tide, when it comes to adults it is not moving at the bottom of the deep sea.

A kind of Paralepididae, which is approaching with interest in the light.

Hyperiidea riding the jellyfish. It’s lke an alien maneuvering a spaceship/Jellyfish umbrella width 20mm

This fish resembles a color and a way to swim like a flatworm/body length 20mm

Abdominal fin of an unconventional trough pattern is large enough to ensure buoyancy. Body length: 35mm

To capture the small creatures Minemizu sets his shutter speed to just a fraction of a second, while ensuring that his own movements don’t disturb the surrounding organisms.

This is a paralarva of Thysanoteuthis rhombus. It was taken in the Ogasawara Islands. It has transparent body and do the very unique pose that along the arm on top of the mantle. Adult live in Mesopelagic.

Female of Phronima stebbingi. Cut out Salpa like a barrel, and Babysitting inside at it.

Larval stage of Zanclus cornutus at Black Water Dive.

Macgillivryia larva

April 2012 Palau

Spatangoida is a kind of Sea urchins that figure is looks like an Echidna. Adult is spend most of life in the sand.

Phyllosoma larva of Ibacuc ciliatus on Aurelia jellyfish April 2014 Oumijima Yamaguchi Japan

Kume-Island,Okinawa,Japan.Uneven friends. Phyllosoma larva of Scyllarus and crab’s megalopa larva are riding on Jellyfish (Pelagia noctiluca).

Female of Phronima stebbingi. Cut out Salpa like a barrel, and Babysitting inside at it.

Zoea larva of Lysmata

Arachnactis larva Cerianthidae sp. July 2016 Kume island Okinawa Japan

October 2016 Kume Island Okinawa Japan

“Plankton symbolize how precious life is by their tiny existence,” he explains. “I wanted other people to see them as they are in the sea, so it was my motivation from the beginning to shoot plankton underwater, which is quite a challenge. Most plankton are small, and their movements are hard to predict.”

Tornaria larva of acorn worms (Krohn stage) April 2016 Palau

Eudoxid of Enneagonum hyalinum. Eudoxid is sexual reproduction stage.

It’s a marine benthos, inhabiting sand or under stone. Adults are long and slender, grotesque. However, some larvae are beautiful like this picture, and they are floating.

March, 2012 Yakushima Kagoshima, Japan.

Amazing! I’m all about science fiction, but whenever there is a popular article about anything space related I scoff, because here on Earth is where the real mysteries of unknown life ~~lie~~ swim.

You can see more of Minemizu’s underwater photography on Instagram and Twitter, with prints from his Phenomenons series available in his online shop 🐟🐟🐟