Loving Earth through lenses

Photo and video competition utilizes outstanding wildlife images to urge scientific answers and better environmental protection, Yang Feiyue reports.

In the crystal-clear waters of Indonesia's Lembeh Strait, a male jawfish performs one of nature's most touching parental duties — tenderly clutching nearly transparent eggs in his mouth.

The soon-to-hatch eggs reveal tiny embryos, their developing eyes visible through the translucent membranes.

"The jawfish is a small but strikingly colorful marine creature, typically measuring 10-20 centimeters in length. These tropical dwellers favor coral reef environments, where they burrow into sandy substrates or coral debris," says Chen Yihuan, producer of the China Wildlife Image and Video Competition, which kicked off its sixth edition in Foshan, South China's Guangdong province, last month.

The jawfish's characteristic behavior involves peering out from their self-made tunnels, ready to dart back inside at the slightest disturbance — a defense mechanism made possible by their disproportionately large mouths, perfectly evolved for both digging and quick retreat, Chen explains. The photo is on display at the ongoing Beyond Horizon exhibition, which runs until Aug 25 in Nanhai district, Foshan, and showcases the outstanding works from the competition's previous editions.

"What sets these fish apart is their extraordinary paternal instincts. The male jawfish assumes full responsibility for offspring protection, meticulously mouth-incubating the eggs until hatching. Occasionally, he'll gently expel the clutch to clean and aerate them before carefully drawing them back into his oral nursery, which is a remarkable display of underwater parenting highlighting nature's ingenious survival strategies," he explains.

The photo is part of a stunning collection of over 100 iconic nature images, displaying extraordinary moments in the wild — from roaming pods of giant sperm whales and a starfish spawning like a luminous UFO, to playful sea lions interacting with an inflated Arothron meleagris puffer fish in defense mode and a motionless "zombie ant" frozen mid-stride by parasitic fungus on a vibrant leaf.