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Revealed here are stunning images of the microscopic world that would normally be invisible to the naked eye.

More than 80 winners from around the world were awarded prizes for excellence in photomicrography in Nikon's 40th annual Small World competition.

First prize went to Rogelio Moreno, a computer programmer from Panama, for capturing a rarely seen image of the open mouth interior and heart-shaped corona of an aquatic creature, known as a rotifer.

Pictured is the first place winner Rogelio Moreno from Panama showing the mouth interior and heart shaped corona of a rotifer. The amazing image is shot 'head on' and shows the mouth of the tiny aquatic animal, which is less than 0.004 inches (0.1mm) long

Moreno is a self-taught microscopist who began in 2009, and Nikon said his image 'serves to show just how close the beauty and wonder of the micro-world truly is'.

The top ten was selected by the panel of judges based on artistic quality and masterful scientific technique.

The main winners were from Italy, the United States, Austria, Spain and Australia.

The only British entry came from Dr Nils Lindstrom, who works in development biology at The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, with his close-up photo of the kidneys.

Eric Flem, Communications Manager for Nikon Instruments, said: 'Since the competition began 40 years ago, the calibre in quality and range of subject matter of the images, is matched only by the scientists and photographers who submit them.

'So much has changed in science and technology in the past 40 years, opening the door for more and more scientists and artists alike to capture and share their stunning images with the world.

'A look at our gallery is like a time capsule of the advancements made in the last four decades and truly shows the legacy a Nikon Small World continues to build.'

Mr Moreno said: 'When you see that movement, you fall in love. I thought - wow, that is amazing.

'I can't believe what I'm seeing. This is something very, very beautiful.

'I hope now it can inspire others as much as it has inspired me - to learn about science, to look closely and notice something truly amazing.'

Noah Fram-Schwartz from Greenwich, Connecticut, US scooped third place with this image of the eyes of a jumping spider

Charles Krebs from Issaquah, Washington, came 13th with this image showing a rotifer actively feeding. Rotifers are microscopic aquatic animals of the phylum Rotifera.They can be found in many freshwater environments and moist soil, where they live in thin films of water around soil particles

Bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells stained for actin (pink), mitochondria (green) and DNA (yellow) are seen in this image from Dr Muthugapatti Kandasamy from the University of Georgia, who came fifth overall

The award for 10th place went to Dr Paul Joseph Rigby from the University of Western Australia for this image showing a daisy petal with fungal infection and pollen grains

Dr Douglas Brumley from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology came sixth with this image showing the active fluid flow around Pocillopora damicornis, a type of 'stony coral' that has a hard exterior

Judges praised Moreno's shot of a rotifer caught open-mouthed and facing the camera for its exemplary technique.

Capturing the perfect moment when the rotifer opened its mouth for the camera required extreme patience from Moreno, who watched for hours.

With the rotifer in constant motion, he used the flash to freeze the movement as soon as the mouth opened.

But that still left him with only a one- or two-second window to take the photo, and possibly only one shot to get it right.

This is another photo by Rogelio Moreno, which came 17th. It shows Pleurotaenium ovatum (micro algae) in polarised light

Ninth place went to Meritxell Vendrell from Barcelona for this picture of a parsley (Petroselinum crispum) ovary fixed and stained to show lectins (red) and nuclei (blue)

Another picture by Charles Krebs shows a close-up near the eye of a Chrysochroa buqueti, more commonly known as a jewel beetle

Douglas Moore from the University of Wisconsin took twelfth place with this picture of Montana Dryhead agate, a type of silica rock

This image of the appendages of a common brine shrimp was taken by Dr Igor Robert, who came eighth overall

As the 2014 winner, Moreno joins the ranks of 36 other photomicrographers, artists and scientists from all over the world who have taken the top prize.

This year's competition received over 1,200 entries from more than 79 countries around the world.

Nikon is hosting an online popular vote to select the best first-place winner from the past four decades.

At the website visitors can select their choice to take the top spot.

Second place went to Alessandro Da Mommio from Pisa, Italy for this image of Rhombohedral cleavage in a calcite crystal. Cleavage is the tendency of crystalline materials to split along their structural planes

Dr Nils Lindstrom from the Developmental Biology at the Roslin Institute, Edinburgh took this image of three transgenic kidneys cultured together, showing colliding branching collecting duct systems

Dr Sabrina Kaul from the University of Vienna, Austria took 19th place with this image of the larval stage of an acorn worm

Seventh place went to Dennis Hinks from Cleveland, Ohio for this image showing the circuitry in a DVD reader

Jens Petersen MycoKey from Ebeltoft, Denmark came 18th for picturing Anagallis arvensis, a plant also known as scarlet pimpernel