An intimate photo of an octopus swimming through shallow waters earned underwater photographer Gabriel Barathieu the Underwater Photographer of the Year award for his photo "Dancing Octopus." Barathieu's winning photograph was taken in a lagoon off the coast of the small island Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.

"The way it moves is so different from any predator on land," said competition judge Alex Mustard. "This truly could be an alien from another world.

Barathieu exercised an immense amount of patience to wait for the right shot, saying: “I had to wait for a low spring tide when the water was just 30cm deep (1 foot) so that the octopus would fill the water column. I got as close as