This is life, but not as you've seen it before. This strange underwater creature with two curved "Mickey Mouse ears" has won the 2011 Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition®.
Shot by Charles Krebs, the little sea monster is a tiny underwater life-form with cilia (hair-like projections around the “ears”) that frantically sweep food into its mouth. The fast-moving cilia were captured in motion thanks to the use of a special flash.
The reddish feature in the frame is in fact the creature's self-shaped home, which it is forming inside its body. Clever thing needs no mortgage to get a roof over its head.
This year’s winning images and movies present the latest advances in neuroscience and cell biology. A time-lapse movie of a cress plant developing new roots over a 75-hour period won second prize.
The the Olympus BioScapes Competition rewards the best microscopic photos and movies of biological sciences.
The winning photos and videos will be displayed in a museum tour that will tour America.
See and rate all the winning shots below: