LIKE A living balloon this baitball of sardines is ready to burst when threatened by a pointy nosed sailfish. The photographs, taken off the coast of Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, Mexico, show how these water creatures work cooperatively to cut off a portion of a school of sardines swimming close to the seafloor, and drive them to the surface. American photographer Doug Perrine, 60, managed to capture the moment the sailfish manage to herd the bait into a tightly packed ball, ready to pick off for dinner one-by-one. ‘The sailfish took-turns swimming through the bait ball slashing with their bills to kill the fish, which are quickly gobbled up,’ Doug said. ‘Sometimes they light up or change to a bright colour pattern.
PRANKSTER Dom Joly was so livid when he was slapped with a parking ticket that he took to Twitter to vent his anger – only to discover he was the victim of his own gag! The comic got a taste of his own medicine when he was tricked by a fellow joker for the first time in a decade .
These are the faces of orphans suffering from the horrifying effects of chemical warfare .
CARRYING a fully grown goat on his back, this five-year-old boy is a child shepherd in the mountains of northern Ethiopia .
Throwing their arms up in the air, these energetic squirrels play a game of ball with a walnut .
Meet the human CCTV: a PCSO with a memory for faces so sharp he has apprehended more than 130 suspects in the last year alone with his eagle eyed talents .
A diver looks like a minnow as she swims alongside a gigantic whale shark, the largest species of fish on the planet .
Lying angelically with a range of expressions etched on their tiny faces, little bundles of joy are innocently captured in their first few days in these adorable photographs .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
SHOVELLING food into his mouth, this hungry gorilla enjoys a peaceful moment at dinner time .
An Italian photographer travelled to Chile where he visited several star-gazing sites, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes, located in the spectacular setting of the Atacama desert .
AN ARRAY of colours, from pinks to blues and oranges, fill the night sky to create an amazing collection of interstellar patterns .