Winners of the Nikon Small World Competition, showcasing photography taken through a light microscope...

Heiti Paves from Tallinn University won the competition with this 20X zoom picture of the anther from a Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) plant. The anther is where pollen is produced.

Second place: Gerd A. Guenther, from Dusseldorf in Germany snapped the Sonchus asper (spiny sowthistle) flower stem section with 150X zoom. It is a common roadside weed in the U.S.

Third place: Pedro Barrios-Perez, from Ottowa, Canada captured this wrinkled photoresist with 200X zoom. Photoresists are light-sensitive materials used to create patterned coating on surfaces in photoengraving.

Fourth place: James E. Hayden, from Philadelphia took this picture of an Anglerfish ovary with 4X zoom. The deep sea fish lures prey with a light.

Fifth place: Bruno Vellutini, from Sao Paulo university in Brazil looked at the oral surface of a young seastar with a 40X zoom.

Sixth place: Havi Sarfaty, from Israel took this close-up of Discus fish scales with 20X zoom. They are native to the Amazon basin..

Seventh place: Shirley Owens from Michigan State University captured the hair-like trichomes on Thunbergia alata (Black-eyed Susan vine) with 450X zoom. The yellow-flowered plant is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant.

Eight place: Lloyd Donaldson from New Zealand pictured these cotton fibres stained with berberine sulphate and color depth shaded with a 200X zoom.

Ninth place: Bernardo Cesare from Padova University in Italy created Olivine inclusions in gabbro (magmatic rock) with a 5X zoom. Olivine is a mineral made from magnesium, iron and silica.

Source: Info and pictures fromDailymail online.