Cuttlefish over a Sandy Reef

A mottled cuttlefish hovers just above the sandy reef, its body turned slightly toward the camera. The side fin has a pale blue edge, and the patterned skin breaks into brown, cream and white spots. Shell fragments scatter across the sand below it.

Sunlight makes bright ripples over the seabed and across the low coral heads. Small seagrass blades rise from the sand, with rough coral shapes sitting in the corners and background. The cuttlefish is the main anchor, but the puzzle is not one flat underwater blur. Fin curves, eye shape, shell pieces, sand waves and coral lumps all give you separate textures to follow.