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At first sight - What is evocative of an enveloped retrovirus model is in fact a close-up view on the slate pencil urchin Heterocentrotus mammillatus (Linnaeus, 1758). This sea urchin has long thick red spines that, in former times, were used to write on slate, in place of chalk. The picture was captured off the shore of Ellaidhoo, a small island within the Ari atoll (Maldives) with a Nikonos RS/50mm macro lens on Kodak Elitechrome 100 ASA colour slide film.
This picture was awarded the First Prize in the EMBO Journal’s 2006 Cover Competition. The Jury’s congratulations go to the photographer, Wolfgang Seifarth, who is molecular biologist at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. His main research interests focus on the impact of endogenous retroviral elements (HERV) in the human genome, on marine biology, and underwater photography. |
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