Afghan balloon vendors walk with their bicycles to look for customers, near a market in Kabul on January 8, 2025. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

Students dance in the hallway during a break at Moscow State Academy of Choreography in Moscow, Russia 03 March 2016. Moscow State Academy of Choreography is the oldest institution in Moscow which teaches Ballet arts not only Russian citizens, but also representatives from more than 20 countries. (Photo by Yuri Kochetkov/EPA)

Recording artist Beyonce performs onstage during The 59th GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on February 12, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for NARAS)

People visit a cemetery during the celebrations of the Guede, the traditional festival of the dead and one of the main festivities of voodoo, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 01 November 2020. (Photo by Jean Marc Herve Abelard/EPA/EFE)

Palestinian demonstrators take cover during clashes with Israeli soldiers following a protest against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum in the occupied West Bank, near the Jewish settlement of Kedumim, on December 9 2022. (Photo by Zain Jaafar/AFP Photo)

A wolf skin is on display for sale next to a painting of Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, also known as Lenin, at Izmailovo flea market in Moscow on December 3, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

The Lexus UX concept is displayed on media day at the Paris auto show, in Paris, France, September 30, 2016. (Photo by Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

With its huge eyes, comical name and diminutive size, Mark R. Smith’s image of a baby Hawaiian bobtail squid can’t help but raise a smile. A curiously endearing creature, the cephalopod is just 1.5cm across, its mantle cavity bearing more than a passing resemblance to a rather natty shower cap. But it is also a beautiful example of symbiosis – nature’s version of “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” – for on the underside of the squid is a light organ which houses bioluminescent bacteria. The squid offers the bacteria protection and food, while the bacteria emit a glow – a handy trait that the squid uses to offset its silhouette, helping it to evade predators in the depths below. Mark R. Smith’s entry combines several images of a Hawaiian bobtail squid with different focus lengths to create a final picture with greater depth of field than normal. (Photo by Mark R. Smith/Wellcome Images/Macroscopic Solutions)