Can you tell what it is? From the teeth of a snail and the skin of garlic, microscopic images reveal the world in close up

• Microscopic images taken at high magnification
• They include a snail's tongue, garlic skin and cells in the human eye

By Mark Prigg

Published: 15:30 EDT, 5 June 2014 | Updated: 17:02 EDT, 5 June 2014

At first glance, they look like an odd assortment of terrifying giant teeth from a horror film, and perhaps brightly coloured wrapping paper.

In fact, these images have all been magnified.

The teeth for instance, are actually the tongue of a snail.

The radula, or tongue, of a common marine rocky shore 'netted dog whelk' Nassarius reticulatus photographed at 200x magnification.

The images were taken by David Maitland, the award-winning microscopic photographer, who created them for electronics firm Sharp to show off their TV displays.

One of the most stunning, above, is a series of seemingly giant teeth.

In fact, they are the tongue of a sea snail.

'This is the radula of a common marine rocky shore 'netted dog whelk' Nassarius reticulatus photographed at 200x magnification.'

Snails feed by scraping off food (algae growing on rocks, or lettuce in the garden) with a long ribbon-like 'tongue' or radula.

'The Radula is a funny structure – it’s like a conveyor belt – the teeth are on it and as it gets worn out it grows another behind,' said Maitland.

The second images looks at tfirst glance like sweet-inspired wrapping paper.

In fact, it is the outer skin of the garlic plant.

'The pale white parchment-like outer skin covering garlic cloves are remarkable in having their cells filled with beautiful crystals of oxalic acid,' explained Matland.

This acid (calcium oxylate) is used by the plant for protection against animals.

In plants these crystals are known as raphides and it is the same chemical that forms kidney stones in humans.

'Here the crystals are made visible by polarised light at 200x magnification,'  said Maitland.

Garlic skin up close: Cells in the skin arefilled with crystals of oxalic acid to protect the plant. The crystals are made visible by polarised light at 200x magnification.

Another of the images shows the human eye in close up.

The front surface of the eye is covered by a clear transparent structure called the cornea, and all the light for seeing travels through this clear surface eye structure.

Maitland was able to photograph it up close to reveal a surprising fact.

'It is not as transparent as you might think – for one thing it is covered in nerve cells for sensing when the eye is touched (remember how painful a bit of sand in your eye is!).

'Normally transparent, the nerve cells in the picture, which is taken from a Victorian slide, have been stained with silver to make them visible, shown here at 400x magnification.'

The front surface of the eye is covered by a clear transparent structure called the cornea. Nerve cells in the picture, which is taken from a Victorian slide, have been stained with silver to make them visible, shown here at 400x magnification.

The final image shows off nature's amazing ability to use light to create a stunning show.

'This is a feather of a male peacock or Indian peafowl, Pavo cristatus,# said Matland.

'This is taken at the edge of the blue eyespot on one of the tail feathers at 100x magnification.

'The light interferes with the layers of the feather and so you get colours being produced much like those of an oil slick on the surface of water.'

This is taken at the edge of the blue eyespot on one of the tail feathers of a peacock at 100x magnification.