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These wonderful pictures of some of the most beautiful creatures of the deep are the work of just one photographer, taken over the past 30 years. Richard Merritt has won a host of awards for what could be described as holiday snaps.

His full-time job is as a computing lecturer at the University of Plymouth, but he is also one of the world's most talented amateur underwater wildlife photographers.

Broody: A gold specs jawfish with its eggs

Technicolour battle: A harlequin shrimp and a starfish (left) and a harlequin filefish

dwarf lionfish

Mane attraction: The dwarf lionfish hides on reefs to ambush prey

Sucker punch: The venom of the blue-ringed octopus can kill a man

Purple patch: Mating sea slugs lay an egg spiral

What a sight! A close-up reveals the sophisticated eye of a cuttlefish

A real slugger: This Indonesian sea slug has exposed gills and sensory 'horns', acquiring vivid colours from reef life it devours

Pink anemone fish are protected from their host's stings by a layer of mucus