Ever seen what the ovary of that bioluminescent deep sea monstrosity the anglerfish looks like? How about the mouth of a sea urchin, oral surface of a starfish or a freshwater dinoflagellate? Dig into this collection of microscopic photographs that show just how much we’re really not seeing in our lives.

I came across this fantastic collection of photographs as part of the annual Nikon Small World competition. All credit for these beautiful images goes to their respective authors. You can find all the images and sources in the Nikon gallery. Enjoy!

The ovary of a deep sea anglerfish

And here’s anglerfish resting on a pinkie. Tiny! (Source: Whitman College)

And anglerfish looking fishy. (Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Here’s the oral surface of a starfish. Be sure to floss now.

Aww, how cute! A lobster egg. Here, here little eggy…

By jove! I think that’s a whole finch testicle!

African clawed-frog tadpoles. Mmmmm….

Ugh… And THIS is just what we find in *one* drop of pondwater?

Freshwater dinoflagellate. Not sure about this one, but some forms are bioluminescent!

A fiery pit of anemone doom… Or just the mouth orifice.

A guppy fish embryo. Can we all say together..? Awwwww….

Giant liposomes. Yea, me too… What??

A little early, but here’s the first snowflake of the year.

A zebrafish larvae with fluorescent neurons. Tasty.

And lastly, some fruit-fly embryos that look suspiciously like skittles…

Alrighty! Be sure to check out the full list on the Nikon homepage! Definitely many more freakishly cool pictures there that I missed out ^^.

Oh, and tell me, what was your favourite picture here, and why?