2020 Small World in Motion Competition

Dr. Richard Ralph Kirby is a marine scientist by trade but his passion crosses over to his artistic side as well. This planktonic larva of a horseshoe worm captured in Darkfield microscopy shows the delicate beauty of these little-known sea creatures. The animal shown is somewhat “temporary” since once they have completed their feeding cycle by drifting through the water as plankton, they settle in to the sea bed where it lives as an adult horseshoe worm.