In pictures: Royal Society photo award winners

The photograph was taken by biologist Bert Willaert, while he was snorkelling in a canal in Belgium.

He explained: "Clear water is hard to come across in the part of Belgium where I live, as a consequence of eutrophication.

"Algae grows from the nutrients flushed down the drains in detergents and sewage, clouding the waters and suffocating other oxygen-dependent life. When I noticed these common toad tadpoles in the crystal-clear canal I wanted to capture the chance encounter from their perspective."

The competition received more than 1,000 entries, submitted for three categories.

Runner-up for Ecology and Environmental Science was Martha M Robbins from Germany for her shot of a silverback gorilla near the Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda.

Evan D'Alessandro's photo of Caribbean brain coral was specially commended - also in the Ecology and Environmental Science category.

A school of tropical clupeid fish avoid a black-tip reef shark in Claudia Pogoreutz's winning photo in the Behaviour category.

An adult wild bearded capuchin monkey (Sapajus libidinosus) uses a stone to crack a palm nut in Fazenda Boa Vista, Piaui, Brazil. Taken by Luca Antonio Marino, the photo was runner-up in the Behaviour category.

(BBC)