Male is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. The city is geographically located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll). Administratively, it is a city-class constituency and is governed by the Malé City Council. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was then called “Mahal”. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi).

Situated in the Pacific Ocean some 620 miles (1,000 km) from the South American continent, these 19 islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique “living museum and showcase of evolution”. Photo: “Close-up. We had a juvenile Red-Footed Booby come visit us on the sun deck. I got some closeups with my ultrawide 11-16mm Tokina”. (Photo by Carl Fredrickson)

In this October 8, 2017, photo, Emily Lynch reacts to hitting her first clay target during a training session for the Trigger Warning Queer & Trans Gun Club in Victor, N.Y. A gay, lesbian and transgender group concerned that extremists have become more emboldened and dangerous have decided to take up arms. The gun club meets once a month to shoot long guns in a field in upstate New York. (Photo by Adrian Kraus/AP Photo)

First time gun owner, Jessie Palmieri holds a target she shot with a H&K VP9 9mm gun at the Ringmasters of Utah gun range, in Springville, Utah on December 18, 2015. (Photo by George Frey/Reuters)

Gisele Marie, a Muslim woman and professional heavy metal musician, plays her Gibson Flying V electric guitar during a concert in Sao Paulo December 16, 2014. Based in Sao Paulo, Marie, 42, is the granddaughter of German Catholics, and converted to Islam several months after her father passed away in 2009. Marie, who wears the Burka, has been fronting her brothers' heavy metal band “Spectrus” since 2012. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

There is an endless bounty of eye-catching gemstones throughout the world and this spectacular boulder opal is one unique beauty that looks like a shimmering crystal encased in a tree fossil. Its opalescent sheen seeps through the cracks of the seemingly wooden rings in lustrous hues of emerald green and aqua blue. Like something out of a fairy tale, the triangular piece radiates through an organic pattern mimicking the growth rings of tree.