According to aquatilis.tv, Alexander Semenov has a wish “to grow gills so that he doesn’t have to leave the water and perform cumbersome tasks, such as changing oxygen tanks.” And when you take a look at the photography from his research, you’ll understand what his wish is all about.

As the Head of the Divers’ team at Moscow University’s White Sea Biological Station, he’s been a photographic contributor for the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and major magazines. His extraordinary photos of jellyfish and other fascinating organisms of Russia’s White Sea give us a glimpse of an underwater world that seems alien to us.

Alex is also the squad leader of the Aquatilis Expedition, a diving project to find and study the unknown creatures of the deep sea. The expedition has yet to begin because the required funding to launch the squad’s journey — a proposed 30,000 nautical miles in three years — hasn’t been acquired. He’s fundraising via Indiegogo and hopes to pursue soon what the expedition’s website states as the staggering 80% of marine life living in our oceans that have yet to be discovered.

These photos show only a small sample of what’s available from Alex. Take a gander at Alex’s underwater album to view nearly 1,000 outstanding shots of sea life.