The photos won in the underwater photo contest in 2017

Hold your breath and gear up for a magical underwater ride courtesy of these stunning photographs. 

Scuba Diving Magazine has announced the winners of its annual Through Your Lens underwater photo contest, with some incredible shots bobbing to the surface. Scuba Diving Magazine said it had the difficult task of narrowing down more than 2,500 entries to a dozen or so winners across four categories including wide angle, macro, conceptual and compact camera. Scroll down to explore some of the most dazzling results...

Eduardo Acevedo took this photo of a ribbon eel in Lembeh Strait, the underwater macro capital of Indonesia. The colourful creatures usually remain hidden in small holes or caves and can show two color combinations: blue and yellow or black and yellow. The shot won second place in the macro photography category.

Gabriel Barathieu took this photo of a squid during a solo dive in the middle of the night in the Indian Ocean. Gabriel Barathieu shares himself swimming in a lagoon on Mayotte Island, a small French island near Madagascar. This photo won third place in the macro category.

Francesco Pacienza finds a small crab in a river near his home in Altomonte, Italy. The photo was ranked No. 3 in the category of compact cameras (left). Meanwhile, Enrico Somogyi captures the image of a jellyfish with the sun behind diving at Torrent de Pareis beach in Mallorca, Spain. He said that it took 40 shots to get a perfect shot and this image won the second spot in the compact camera category.

Greg Lecoeur took this incredible shot of gannets diving into the water off the island of Noss in Shetland, Scotland. He said he was surrounded by thousands of gannet birds as they fed on mackerel. This incredible shot scored Lecoeur the grand prize of $1,000 and a Liveaboard trip to Fiji.

On the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia, Kevin Richter said he found the extremely special coconut octopus sitting on the black sand at the bottom of the sea, right next to his boat at a depth of just under 4 meters. He said it looked like night but the picture was taken on a sunny afternoon, because the octopus did not stop for a long time, so he had to act quickly. This picture won the first prize in the compact camera category.

Raoul Caprez tested out his macro shooting ability when he met a huge green sea turtle in the waters off Ecuador. He said the sea creature let him approach closely without moving and that's when he noticed a small cleaner fish by the turtle's eye. This shot won first prize in the macro category.

Rodney Bursiel took a whitish whale picture while traveling in Tonga. He said he was focused on the mother when a calf came from behind and breached right beside him. The photo won the first place in the wide angle category.

Every winter, Jens Troeger travels to Hornby Island in British Columbia (Canada) to dive with the Sea Lion Steller. The sea lions are always excited to see him swim with them. This picture won the # 3 spot in the wide angle category.

Photo by Marc Henauer taken in the waters off the Bahamas. Sharing about the work, the author says he wants to record great views underwater when waves create storm-like effects. This picture won # 2 in the wide angle category.