(this article was first published in the fruit shell)

the dynamic group of the 2019 Nikon Little World Microphotography Award won the award and introduced the shortlisted works. The introduction of the original works of this award is as short as ever. Only some of the works after the top three were selected. Personally, I like the second place best, which is what the title and inscription say.

first coral

Recorder: Philippe P. Laissue

what we see in the picture is live coral, which is a kind of deer antler coral called Acropora muricata. Excited by light, these corals emit green autofluorescence, while the magenta part is the fluorescence of chlorophyll, which comes from algae that live with corals. The corals are sensitive to light, and in order to minimize the impact on them, the researchers chose optical fluorescence microscopes for imaging.

corals are organisms concerned by marine biologists, they are an important part of the ecosystem, and they are facing a survival crisis in increasingly heated and acidified seawater. Fluorescence imaging of living corals can help researchers understand the development and behavior of corals and how they respond to external stimuli.

No. 2: parasitic

Recorder: Richard Kirby

the little guy swimming around in the picture is a group of parasitic ciliates (Vampyrophrya), parasitic in a copepod marine plankton-the poor host is dead. Dr. Richard Kirby (Richard Kirby) recorded the scene with a dark-field microscope, and the air was filled with the festive atmosphere of bungee dancing on the grave.

third place: Vortex

Recorder: Tommy Gunn & Jesse Gunn

the protagonist of this video is still small plankton, which stirs the current with cilia to form a beautiful vortex. This is a spinosa (Stylonychia), a type of ciliate that circulates the surrounding water in order to carry food particles into the mouth. The video was also filmed under a dark-field microscope.

here are some other shortlisted works.

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immune war

Recorder: Kar Yan Soh

what is shown here is the encirclement and suppression of bacteria by neutrophils (a kind of leukocytes), which takes place in the body of a zebrafish larva. The subjects were labeled with fluorescence: neutrophils were red and bacteria were green. Granulocytes can be seen swimming toward the infected site and swallowing the bacteria.

spots flash

Recorder: Caroline Pritchard

this is a cuttlefish (Doryteuthis pealeii) with many pigment cells on its body surface. Cephalopods such as octopus and squid can control the expansion and contraction of these pigment cells through nerves and muscles, thus quickly changing the color of the body surface.

Cuttlefish is an animal that has made important contributions to the development of neuroscience. Human beings have recorded neural electrical signals on it for the first time, and this is all because it has literally large strips of nerves. It can be easily operated even with instruments that are not very fine at that time.

sublimation

Recorder: Caleb Foster

this is not a process of snowflake growth, but a process of sublimation and disappearance of snowflakes-- just inverted time-lapse photography.

Twist

Recorder: Shinji Shimode

this is a larva of marine polychaeta.

Iron filings dance

Recorder: Thomas Drolsum

Iron filings in the magnetic field.

for a complete list of shortlisted works, please see https://www.nikonsmallworld.com/galleries/2019-small-world-in-motion-competition