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)

A man carries his wife over an obstacle while competing in the Wife Carrying Championship to mark City Day in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, June 25, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

American actress and YouTuber Madeline Petsch in the second decade of May 2023 jokes about “intimacy“ while filming “Riverdale”. (Photo by madelame/Instagram)

Abigail Doyle from St David's Holy Faith Secondary School, Greystones, modeling her Alice in Wonderland themed outfit designed for the Upcycled category of the An Taisce Green-Schools Let's Fix Fashion catwalk event in Cashel, Ireland on May 4, 2023. (Photo by Diarmuid Greene/The Irish Times)

Senate pages wear eclipse glasses as they view the moon partially covering the sun during a total solar eclipse, in front of the U.S. Senate on Capitol Hill, Monday, April 8, 2024, in Washington. (Photo by Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

Cuban migrant Yamilen Arbelo, 40, walks down a hill as she crosses the border from Colombia through the jungle into La Miel, in the province of Guna Yala, Panama November 29, 2015. According to local authorities in La Miel, some 100 to 150 Cubans have been entering Panama from Colombia every day for the last three months. Scores of Cubans have come to Panama as they seek overland passage towards the United States fearing a recent detente between Washington and Havana could end their preferential treatment. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

A Hindu holy man or Sadhu walks back to his ashram after taking a dip at Sangam, confluence of Ganges river, Yamuna river and mythical Saraswati river in Allahabad, India, Thursday, August 4, 2016. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Hisao Mitani walks with an African tortoise, which he named Bon-Chan, on the street on September 16, 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. Bon-chan, the 26-year-old tortoise who is cared for by 69-year-old funeral director Mitani, has become an internet sensation after starring in a viral tiktok video that has gained over seven million views since it was released, making both Mitani and Bon-chan tiktok celebrities. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)