Do you, like Jack Donaghy, keep a negative of a photo of Jacques Cousteau in your safe and harbor secret fantasies of becoming a Student Argonaut? Then you’ll definitely appreciate this series of images snapped by Russian diver and amateur photographer Alexander Semenov of the White Sea Biological Station. “Many marine species can’t be photographed underwater for a variety of different reasons,” he explains. “Some animals are too small, some spend their life burrowed in the seafloor, and some live in the dark depths where nobody can dive. At our station, we collect specimens using different methods and as a result are able to make photos and then show a wide range of animals, which we haven’t previously seen in their natural environment.” Click through to dive into a slideshow that features some of the White Sea’s most beautiful — but camera shy — inhabitants.
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov
Photo credit: Alexander Semenov