Nikon Instruments has revealed the winners of the ninth annual Nikon Small World in Motion Photomicrography Competition. Biologist and assistant professor/leturer Dr. Philippe Laissue captured the coveted top spot with his awe-inspiring video of a polyp emerging from a reef-building staghorn coral. Corals are extremely light sensitive, and capturing this video required Laissue to use a low-light technique and develop a custom microscope that could take movies of the corals without bothering the light-shy samples.
The video also captures the algae (colored in magenta) living inside the coral in a symbiotic relationship. Corals are made up of thousands of polyps and form coral reefs, which are an important part of marine ecosystems. The coral colonies Laissue is studying are essential reef-builders, but their sensitivity to bright light makes them very hard to film and study.
“Coral reefs are in alarming decline due to climate change, pollution and other human-made disturbances,” said Laissue. “I hope this video shows people the beauty of these organisms while raising awareness of their decline. We are working to better understand corals and their complex relationships with algae and other organisms. Hopefully we can contribute to finding the best ways to protect and conserve the coral reefs for future generations.”
“These amazing movies show us how much imaging technology has advanced over the years,” said Eric Flem, Communications Manager, Nikon Instruments, “It’s remarkable that we can bring stunning visuals like this one that highlight scientifically and socially relevant topics such as the decline of the reefs to the public.”
Laissue added, “Corals are utterly fascinating organisms - part animal, part plant, part stone. I’m grateful to be able to show the public a bit of their unseen world.”
Second place was awarded to Dr. Richard Kirby for his movie of Vampyrophrya, a type of parasite, emerging from their deceased host organism (a marine plankton). The video was captured using darkfield microscopy. Kirby says the most difficult part of capturing videos like this is transporting live samples from bodies of water to the laboratory for observation.
In third place is Tommy and Jesse Gunn for their video of a Stylonychia (microorganism) creating a water vortex using its cilia. The microscopic creature is creating this vortex in order to capture its next meal.
Republished courtesy of Nikon Instruments. Photo courtesy Dr. Philippe Laissue/Nikon.