Stunning microscopic footage has captured the second a translucent child sea urchin crawled throughout a mattress of crimson algae. The video earned fifth place within the annual Nikon Small World in Motion competitors.
Alvaro Migotto, a zoologist on the University of São Paulo in Brazil, captured the mesmerizing video of the juvenile sea urchin because it moved throughout its habitat and recognized the species as Arbacia lixula — a black sea urchin that’s generally discovered alongside the Brazilian coast and all through the Mediterranean. Migotto found the tiny creature whereas analyzing particles that had washed ashore close to the Center for Marine Biology the place he works.
“It was simply by chance. While I was examining various materials — such as algae, pebbles, and seashells washed ashore — under the stereomicroscope in search of other organisms, I unexpectedly came across this tiny sea urchin calmly walking on a piece of red calcareous algae,” Migotto informed Live Science in an e mail.
“The scene struck me as perfect — not only was the animal moving naturally over a substrate it typically inhabits in the wild, but the combination of these two elements also created excellent contrast and pleasing colors,” he added.
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Sea urchins are marine invertebrates within the group Echinodermata and are present in oceans world wide and in almost each local weather. They have spherical, spiny our bodies and tons of of tiny tubed toes.
Nikon introduced the winners and honorable mentions of the competitors on Sept. 24.
The high prize went to microscopist Jay McClellan for his time-lapse video capturing the self-pollination of a thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia). Photographer Benedikt Pleyer was awarded second place for a swarm of Volvox algae within the central gap of a Japanese 50-yen coin.
Other noteworthy mentions embody an 18-hour timelapse capturing the expansion of a chick’s sensory neurons, a 3D composite of a male dung beetle (Sulcophanaeus imperator) constructed from greater than 7,000 photographs and a recording of mitochondria and calcium waves within the muscle cells of a contracting human coronary heart.