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 grasshopper in a protective mask created by microminiaturist Anatoly Konenko in Omsk, Russia on May 21, 2020. Mini-masks about the size of a rice grain are made of a special high-density medical fabric with a built-in air filter. Anatoly Konenko is one of Russia's most famous microminiaturists; his works include a grasshopper playing a violin, a shod flea, a miniature bass guitar, a camel train in a needle's eye, and over 200 miniature books. (Photo by Yevgeny Sofiychuk/TASS)

Asia Sawicka as Anastasia IV poses for a photograph prior to a rehearsal of the Circus of Horrors' latest show Voodoo, ahead of Halloween, at the Wookey Hole Caves Theatre near Wells on October 19, 2017 in Somerset, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Retired Malam Jabba engineer Akbar Ali skis down the piste at the ski resort in Malam Jabba, Pakistan February 7, 2017. Atop the piste of Malam Jabba in Pakistan's once dangerous Swat Valley skiers schuss downhill, a new Chinese-built chairlift ferries tourists to the peak, and a luxury hotel is under construction to replace one torched by the Taliban. (Photo by Caren Firouz/Reuters)

Kyaiktiyo, Burma, 1978. The Golden Rock at Shwe Pyi Daw (the Golden Country), the Buddhist holy place. Hiroji Kubota writes: “I was desperate to keep a distance from America for a while; luckily, I found Burma and its gentle and compassionate people. In the spring of 1978, on the top of the hill where I took this photo, I had two Leica bodies: the one with Tri-X and the other with Kodachrome 64. Soon after, I realised that the colour one looked very colourful and was more powerful. That was my decisive moment, to become a colour photographer”. (Photo by Hiroji Kubota/Magnum Photos)

An Orthodox child is given an icy dip in a lake in celebration of Epiphan, near the village of Vorontsovka, some 20 km from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 19 January 2019. People believe that bathing in blessed waters during the holiday of Epiphany strengthens their spirit and body. (Photo by Igor Kovalenko/EPA/EFE)

A child dressed as Hindu God Shiva begs for alms from devotees at the Sangam, the confluence of three rivers – the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, on the Makar Sankranti festival during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, January 14, 2024. Hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims are expected to take dips in the confluence, hoping to wash away sins during the month-long festival. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

In this photograph taken on September 1, 2024, a tea picker shows her hands whilst she reaps leaves at a plantation in Hatton. The backbone of the economy, Sri Lanka's tea pickers are determined to use their powerful vote to choose a president this month who will change grim working conditions for good. The pickers' main political party, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), are backing the incumbent Wickremesinghe. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)