Shooting star by Tony Wu, US/Japan. Winner, underwater. The electrifying reproductive dance of a giant sea star. As the surrounding water filled with sperm and eggs from spawning sea stars, Wu faced several challenges. Stuck in a small, enclosed bay with only a macro lens for photographing small subjects, he backed up to squeeze the undulating sea star into his field of view. The dancing posture of spawning sea stars rising and swaying may help release eggs and sperm, or may help sweep the eggs and sperm into the currents where they fertilise together in the water. Kinko Bay, Japan. (Photo by Tony Wu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

A visitor looks at portraits of Mao Zedong amid his statues on display at a wholesale souvenir store in Shaoshan, Hunan Province in central China, 28 April 2016. Shaoshan is the hometown of former Communist leader Mao Zedong, popularly known as Chairman Mao. Thousands of visitors descend on this small Chinese town burrowed in the hills of Central China's Hunan province to pay homage to the “Great Helmsman” everyday. It is one of the core sites of the “Red Tourism” industry, where communist party cadres and ordinary Chinese tourists alike seek to relive the experiences and rekindle the spirit of the revolutionaries. (Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA)

A picture taken on April 18, 2020 in Sainte-Croix shows a scultpure representing a man wearing a facemask as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus in a field. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/AFP Photo)

An undated handout photo made available by the Zerynthia Association shows the pupa of an amicta moneiba, a recently discovered species of moth endemic to La Gomera and El Hierro islands in the Canary Islands, Spain (issued 01 July 2020), as those two islands pulled apart from the rest of the Canary Islands 2.5 million years ago. The Institute of Evolutionary Biology of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Zerynthia Association have recently discovered two new moth species in El Hierro and La Gomera. (Photo by Yeray Monasterio/Zerynthia/EPA/EFE)

A woman peels potatoes for sale at a market located along a railway line in West Jakarta, Indonesia March 1, 2016. (Photo by Garry Lotulung/Reuters)

Canoeists are framed by the tail of a breaching whale in Antarctica in April 2023. The photographer, from California, writes: “It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime moment”. (Photo by Jiahong Zeng/Solent News)

Sydney McLaughlin of Team United States celebrates with Legend the mascot after winning gold and setting a new world record in the Women's 400m Hurdles Final on day eight of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 22, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images for World Athletics)