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Lobster Egg

Even when a lobster is still a developing egg, you can see some of its adult features: an eye and legs.
(Tora Bardal / Nikon Small World)

Even when a lobster is still a developing egg, you can see some of its adult features: an eye and legs. After a female lays her eggs, she carries them around under her tail for 9 months to a year to protect them. When they are ready to hatch, she lifts her tails and the larvae, which look like tiny lobsters, drift into the waves. Over the next three to ten weeks, they will feed, grow and molt in the plankton, before settling down on the seafloor. This image, taken at 3.2x zoom, took 14th place in the 2009 Nikon Small World photomicrography competition.