Marine biodiversity
Diatoms like this may be microscopically small, but they are abundant and form an important part of the food chain.
At sea, animals have a lot more freedom to take on forms that would be impossible to support on land. This colourful deep sea Acorn Worm was photographed by David Shale during the MAR- ECO programme which explored the mid-Atlantic ridge as part of the Census of Marine Life.
SCIENCE SPIN Issue 58 Page 26
A Basking Shark with mouth wide open to feed. Photographed by Chris Gotschalk. Until early in the last century these sharks were hunted from Achill, Co Mayo.