A tree frog uses a leaf as an umbrella in pouring rain in Karacabey floodplain near the city of Bursa, Turkey in the first decade of June 2023. (Photo by Savas Sener/Solent News & Photo Agency)

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)

The tempestuous stellar nursery called the Carina Nebula, located 7,500 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation Carina. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

A woman prepares to release carps to Hoan Kiem lake on Kitchen God's Day as part of the traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebrations, the biggest festival of the year in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 4, 2021. (Photo by Kham via Reuters)

Maura Higgins turns up the heat in red hot Christmas lingerie and kinky thigh-high boots. The reality star, who appeared on UK Love Island in 2019, posed in skimpy underwear from Ann Summers in December 2021. (Photo by Instagram)

Factory waste including dyes from the many textile factories in the region drain into a tributary of the Citarum river on August 27, 2018 outside Bandung, Java, Indonesia. (Photo by Ed Wray/Getty Images)

Mini-pigs perform during the presentation in Balashikha, Russia on December 19, 2018. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A seagull eats a piece of dried fish of a man's hand during sunset at Bang Pu seaside resort in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, 13 January 2019. Every year during the cold winter months between October to March thousands of seagulls migrate to Bang Pu seaside from Siberia to escape the harsh winter. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA/EFE)