Best Overall
Kyle McBurnie, California
Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) in a kelp forest at Cortes bank, near San Diego, CA.

Since 2005, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has conducted an annual Underwater Photography Contest, which is open to amateur photographers. This year's contest was won by Kyle McBurnie of California with this hauntingly beautiful shot of a harbor seal floating like a ghost in a kelp forest.

View more winners of the 2013 Underwater Photography Contest: Link | Gallery at LiveScience

Macro 1st Place
Beth Watson, Missouri
An anemone shrimp in Puerto Galera, Philippines.

Macro 2nd Place
Douglas Good, Pennsylvania
An emperor shrimp (Periclimenes imperator) on two nudibranches (Risbecia tryoni) at Dinah's Beach, Papua New Guinea.

Macro 3rd Place
Frederica Bambi, Italy
A porcelain crab (Neopetrolisthes maculatus) on an anemone at Pescador Island, Cebu, Philippines.

Fish or Marine Animal Portrait
2nd Place
Marcello DiFrancesco, Italy
The greater blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata)near Malapascua island, Philippines.

Fish or Marine Animal Portrait
3rd Place
Judy Townsend, Florida
A male Dusky Jawfish with his clutch of eggs at the Blue Heron Bridge in Riviera Beach, Florida.

Wide-angle 1st Place
Alex Tattersall, United Kingdom
A lionfish on the Thistlegorm wreck in the Red Sea, Egypt.

Best Student Entry
Laura Rock, Florida
Goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara) during the annual spawning event in Jupiter, FL.

Student 2nd Place
Laura Rock, Florida
Great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) in Bimini, Bahamas.

Student 3rd Place
Austin Gallagher, Florida
Oceanic white tip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) near Cat Island, Bahamas.

View the official 2013 Underwater Photography Contest over at University of Miami