A photograph of corals taken by Dr. Tom Shlesinger in the Gulf of Eilat earned him a prestigious award in an international photography competition organized by the Ocean Geographic Society. This contest is considered one of the world's most significant events for underwater photography.
Dr. Shlesinger is a researcher at the School of Zoology and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History at Tel Aviv University, as well as at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat. He captured the award-winning image in June 2023 during one of his hundreds of nighttime dives and snorkeling sessions in the Gulf of Eilat.
The dives are part of an ongoing scientific-documentary project that tracks the "nightlife" of the underwater world in the Red Sea, focusing on reproductive phenomena and nighttime portraits of reef inhabitants. In his research, Dr. Shlesinger conducts an in-depth, continuous study of coral reproduction, spending numerous hours underwater every night during the summer months (May to September), the coral breeding season.
"Almost every year, I try to surpass myself and produce slightly more exceptional images," Dr. Shlesinger added. "Nearly every year, I have photos of coral reproduction that win competitions and are displayed in exhibitions. The winning image is a wide shot, where you can see the pinkish bundles with a kind of blur, capturing the motion. This requires long-exposure photography, which is challenging. I waited in relative darkness near the corals to avoid disturbing them. When the moment happened, I had two flashlights aimed above the corals to capture it. This event occurs just one night a year, so you have to wait almost every night to catch it."
The winning photograph captures the luminous release of reddish bundles of eggs and sperm by stony corals. "One of the main things I research is how corals reproduce and how baby corals are created," Dr. Shlesinger shared. "This dictates the future of the entire ecosystem. For over a decade, I've been diving into the sea at night. These events always occur at night. Out of the hundreds of nights I've spent in the Gulf, primarily for scientific research, I've also invested in developing my photography skills. Many of the things I see at night are astonishing. No matter how much I describe what I see to people, photography helps convey this beauty to them."
The judges of the competition, in which Dr. Shlesinger triumphed, include some of the world's most renowned underwater photographers and leading marine scientists.
Dr. Shlesinger himself specializes in coral research in the Gulf of Eilat. One of his notable studies was on the "World's biggest orgy" where he, along with other researchers, uncovered disruptions in the coral spawning events in the Gulf of Eilat. A precise coordination of various environmental factors synchronizes these massive reproductive events. The researchers believe that the disruption may be caused by changes in environmental factors, such as climate change or various water pollutants.