Winner: The blood-brain barrier in a live zebrafish embryo

Some of the world's finest microphotographers have battled it out to have their work crowned the best in the 2012 Nikon Small World Competition. This gallery contains the top twenty pictures from this year's competition. The winning picture is believed to be the first-ever image showing the formation of the blood-brain barrier in a live animal. This phenomenal collection of pictures, using various photographic techniques, can be viewed further on the competition website: www.nikonsmallworld.com

If you fancy yourself a microphotography expert or just think the judges for the competition got it all wrong you might like to vote for your favourite on facebook page: www.facebook.com/nikonsmallworld

Thank you to Nikon Small World for supplying these images to us. I hope you agree they really are a fascinating collection of pictures.