WINNERS GALLERY

A large school of sardines move as one to evade predation in the Los Islotes rockeries, Espiritu Santo archipelago, Sea of Cortez, Mexico - a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1995. "These tiny sardines had limited chances of survival - stuck between the surface and the shallow bottom, with very few possibilities for escape," says photographer Franco Banfi. "The school was so big it blocked the natural light coming through from the surface, darkening the scene. It continually changed shape, like a flock of starlings in the sky. I stayed for hours in the shallow water, doing my best to take a representative picture."