Our guest post this week comes from Emei Ma, a scientific artist. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. Occasionally, we come across an image or a video that compels us to ask, “What is that?” Such was the case when I saw the mesmerizing work of Aaron…
Tag: macro
New photographic project captures intricate beauty of insects
A new collection of images launched this week by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History reveal in stunning detail the intricacies of insect anatomy. Each image is a composite of around 8,000 individual photos, with the artist Levon Biss painstakingly adjusting the lighting and settings for each one to best highlight the microscopic details…
Ole’ blue eyes: scallops and clams have unique ‘mirrored’ eyes
It may seem alien, but think about this the next time you enjoy a scallop or a clam: they might be looking back at you. Some species have tens of tiny eyes which line the edges of their characteristic shells. Unlike almost all other adult bivalves, scallops and clams can grow eyes which use a unique…
#wormwednesday: Scale worm jaws reveal cannibalistic habits
Most worms seem pretty harmless – no one ever worries about a nasty bite from an earthworm. But they’re not all so benign. Many species of polychaetes have fearsome jaws that they use to feed on unsuspecting prey – including other worms. These alien-looking gnashers are formed from strengthened collagen and can extend all…
‘Solar powered’ sea slug uses captured algae to photosynthesise
Elysia chlorotica not only resembles a leaf, but uses plant-type cells to draw energy from the sun, too! This remarkable seaslug is able to extract chloroplasts from the algae it feeds on and incorporate them into their own tissues. The young slugs feed on algae and digest everything but the photosynthesising organelles, which are stored in the…
Young sea star
Close-up view of a young sea star or starfish, demonstrating two of the key anatomical features of echinoderms, the phylum to which they belong. The first is the pentaradial (five-way radial) symmetry that gives it its characteristic star shape, which is highly unusual. This symmetry means that, unlike most ‘higher’ animals, the sea star has no head or…
Leg of the female drone fly, Eristalis tenax
This confocal microscope image shows the pretarsus (the distal tip of the leg) of a female drone fly, with many fine hairs and bristles visible. The number, appearance and placement of bristles across the legs and thorax region of many insects can help biologists to identify specific taxonomic groups: species, genera, families, orders and classes (in ascending size…
Iridescent scales on the wing of the sunset moth
The colour patterns on the wings of Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) are costructed from thousands of scales. The sunset moth, Chrysiridia rhipheus have unique, iridescent patches which are produced not by pigmentation, but by microscopic adaptations to the structure of the scales themselves. Each one is made up of multiple layers, held separated by randomly located…
Chiton radula (Chaetopleura articulata) capped with magnetite
Most molluscs (slugs, snails and many shellfish) use a radula to scrape algae and other food from the surface of rocks and shells. It’s a large, complex structure which resembles a giant alien tongue with many rows of teeth, and can be more than half the length of the whole animal! But chitons have an even more…
Developing lobster egg
Developing lobster egg, with eye and legs visible at the bottom left and right, respectively. Image courtesy of Tora Bardal and the Nikon Small World competition.
Anatomy To You 