a man standing in the ocean with bioluminescent phytoplankton surrounding him
an Adelie penguin in Antarctica
a small cabin reflected in a lake on a misty day in Szodliget, Hungary
a snowy owl in the snow near Quebec City, Canada
girl standing near Baobab trees, Madagascar
an Apostle Island ice cave during sunset, Bayfield, Wisconsin
a red fox camouflaged in the woods of Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy
an ice crack on a frozen lake in Russia.
a diver in front of a bait ball in Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, Mexico
the aurora borealis in the moonlight
a mouse poking its head out of a hole
wolf wading through lake water
waterfalls and fall foliage at Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia
a diver in front of the Hilma Hooker shipwreck off Bonaire
a red fox in Estonia
cherry blossoms at the Kyoto Imperial Palace in Japan
a baby humpback whale
a white-coated ermine in the snow in Gran Paradiso National Park, Italy
a girl swimming with golden jellyfish, Jellyfish Lake, Palau
a cormorant fisherman on a boat on the Li River, Xingping, China
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Bioluminous Larak

Each day, we bring you one photo from around National Geographic that fits our criteria for Photo of the Day—sometimes classic, sometimes quirky, always an image with a story to tell. For this year’s roundup, we looked at shares, likes, and comments from the social sphere to see which ones resonated most with you. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran—an island in the Persian Gulf—Your Shot member Pooyan Shadpoor came across the luminous scene in the photo above. The “magical lights of [the] plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot,” he writes. Many of these photos were submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »

Photograph by Pooyan Shadpoor, National Geographic Your Shot

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