Nature

Free Underwater and Ocean Pictures: 112 Photos of Coral Reefs, Fish and Whale Sharks

· 2 min read
School of yellow snappers over a reef

112 free underwater pictures: coral gardens and sea fans, clownfish, lionfish and angelfish, whale sharks and sea turtles, divers and old wrecks. Most were taken while diving in Thailand and the Maldives.

How to download: click a photo to see it large, then use Download. The originals are about 1200 × 800 pixels: right for blog posts, slides, social media, school projects and video call backgrounds.

Coral reefs

Hard and soft corals, sea fans, giant clams and the colours of a healthy reef.

Reef fish

Schools of snappers and fusiliers, clownfish in their anemones, lionfish, angelfish, boxfish, batfish and moray eels.

Whale sharks, turtles and rays

The big encounters: whale sharks, sea turtles, rays and a jellyfish.

Divers, wrecks and other sea life

Divers at work, old wrecks and jars on the sea floor, starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

Where these photos were taken

Most of the underwater pictures shown here were taken in Thailand and the Maldives.

Ko Samui – the island of coconuts – located 400 km south of Bangkok, is one of Thailand’s top diving locations. The many scuba diving schools around the island offer a wide range of diving activities, including snorkelling and day-trips to deserted beaches on the islands of Ko Tao, Ko Phangan and the Angthong Marine National Park. These are amongst the finest world-famous diving locations – as these  water pictures show…

The Maldives, southwest of Sri Lanka, in the Indian Ocean, stretch about 820 km from north to south. They consist of 26 atolls made up of 1,190 coral islands. The climate is tropical, determined largely by monsoons, with warm temperatures all year round and a great deal of sunshine. About 200 of the islands are inhabited and some have freshwater lagoons. English is widely spoken and tourism, fishing and shipping are the chief sources of income.

More free photos

Questions about these photos

Can I use these underwater pictures for free?

Yes, for personal and commercial projects. All we ask is a link back to BigFoto.com; the box at the top of the page has a credit link you can copy.

Can I use them as a background?

Yes. The blue open-water shots and the coral close-ups work well behind text, on slides and as video call backgrounds.

Used a photo from this page? Please link back to it: Photo: <a href="https://bigfoto.com/themes/nature/underwater/">BigFoto.com</a>. See Copyright for details.