The stunning microscopic image captured the moment when a translucent baby sea urchin raw a bed of red algae. The video took fifth place in the annual Nikon Small World in Motion Competition.
Alvaro Migot, a zoologist at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, filmed a fascinating video of young sea urchins as he traveled across its habitat and identified the species as Albasia Rixala, a Black Sea sea urchin commonly found along Brazilian coasts and the entire Mediterranean. Migott discovers a small creature while examining debris that had been washed on land near the marine biology center where he works.
“It was a coincidence. While washing and cleaning various materials like algae, pebbles, shells, and more, under a stereomicroscope in search of other organisms, I unexpectedly came across this little sea urchin.
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“The scene felt perfect. The animals not only naturally moved over substrates that normally live in the wild, but the combination of these two elements also created excellent contrast and pleasant colors,” he added.
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Sea sea urchins are marine invertebrates of the Echinodermata group and are found in oceans and almost all climates around the world. They have round, spiny bodies and hundreds of small tube legs.
Nikon announced an honorable mention of the winner and competition on September 24th.
The top prize was sent to microscopist Jay McClellan in a time-lapse video that captured self-pollination from a Time Lead Speedwell (Veronica Serpyllifolia). Photographer Benedict Prey was awarded second place in a herd of Volvox algae in the central hole of a Japanese 50-year-old coin.
Other notable mentions include an 18-hour time-lapse captured the growth of chick sensory neurons, a 3D complex of male fecal beetles (Sulcophanaeus Empire) made from over 7,000 images, and recording mitochondrial and calcium waves in contracting human muscle cells.
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