2912) The "Antarctic Krill - (Euphausia superba)", Republic of Austria (Oesterreich Republik): Third Coin in the "Luminous Marine Life Coin Series": A 3 Euro Copper-Alloy Coin features this Underwater Marine invertebrate: Date/Year of Coin issue: 07.06.2023:
Links to "Luminous Marine Life" Coin Series:
With this Coin Series "Luminous Marine Life", one dives into the depths of the oceans.
- To celebrate the "United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development", this Coin Series embarks on an undersea adventure that shows just how fascinating and colourful the underwater world can be.
With a mintage of 65,000, of the twelve innovative 3 Euro Coloured Coins in the Series, four will be issued each year over 3 years.
As improbable and magical as the sea creatures featured on the coins may seem, they really do exist.
Even though some of them live in the perpetual darkness of the deep seas, where no ray of sunlight penetrates, they all have extraordinary luminous qualities. They flash, sparkle and glow and change colour when necessary.
The same applies to the coins themselves, which glow when exposed to ultraviolet light in a way that is both exciting and piques our sense of scientific curiosity.
A dedicated ultraviolet torch will help the viewer to experience the charming creatures of Luminous Marine Life in full.
The Antarctic Krill (Third Coin in the Series):
Antarctic Krill ("Euphausia superba") is a species of Krill found in the Antarctic waters of the Southern Ocean.
It is a small, swimming crustacean that lives in large schools, called Swarms", sometimes reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 individual animals per cubic metre.
It feeds directly on minute phytoplankton, thereby using the primary production energy that the phytoplankton originally derived from the sun in order to sustain their pelagic (open ocean) life cycle.
It grows to a length of 6.00 centimetres (2.40 inches), weighs up to 2.00 grams (0.071 oz), and can live for up to six years.
It is a key species in the Antarctic ecosystem and in terms of biomass, is one of the most abundant animal species on the planet – approximately 500 million metric tons (550 million short tons; 490 million long tons).
Krill are often referred to as light-shrimp because they emit light through bioluminescent organs.
These organs are located on various parts of the individual krill's body - one pair of organs at the eyestalk, another pair are on the hips of the second and seventh thoracopods, and singular organs on the four pleonsternites.
These light organs emit a yellow-green light periodically, for up to 2–3 seconds. They are considered so highly developed that they can be compared with a flashlight. There is a concave reflector in the back of the organ and a lens in the front that guide the light produced.
The whole organ can be rotated by muscles, which can direct the light to a specific area.
The function of these lights is not yet fully understood - some hypotheses have suggested they serve to compensate the krill's shadow so that they are not visible to predators from below, other speculations maintain that they play a significant role in mating or schooling at night.
The Krill's bioluminescent organs contain several fluorescent substances. The major component has a maximum fluorescence at an excitation of 355 nm and emission of 510 nm.
Lobstering Krill: Escape reaction:
Krill use an escape reaction to evade predators, swimming backwards very quickly by flipping their rear ends. This swimming pattern is also known as lobstering. Krill can reach speeds of over 0.6 metres per second (2.0 ft/s).
It may be tiny, but the Antarctic krill plays an absolutely massive role in the planet’s ecosystem.
The vital little crustacean lights up the third coin in the Luminous Marine Life series.
The Antarctic Krill is so important because it is one of the most abundant animal species on Earth and forms the nutritional basis of many other marine animals in Antarctica, including whales, fish, seals, penguins and other seabirds.
If the Antarctic krill is doing well, other species are doing well, too.
Krill themselves feed mainly on diatoms and other plant plankton that they collect on thin bristles on their front legs. In spring, their favourite food consists of microalgae that grow on the underside of drift ice.
The Third Coin in the Series:
The Krill is framed by a wide band, reminiscent of an old-fashioned porthole, that frames the aquatic scene on the coin’s reverse.
As on all the coins in the series, to the left and below the Krill to the right, a shell and a starfish can be seen, and there is a notch on the left edge.
The peripheral inscriptions read - "LEUCHTGARNELE, 2023".
On the Obverse of the 3 Euro Base Metal Coin, all 12 of the magical sea creatures in the "Luminous Marine Life Coin Series" are shown in silhouette.
Air bubbles up between them and a tail fin disappears beneath the waves to the right.
The peripheral inscriptions are - "REPUBLIK OSTERREICH. 3 EURO".
The specifications of the Coin are:
Country: Oesterreich Republik ("Republic of Austria"); Date/Year of Coin issue: 07.06.2023; Coin Denomination: 3 Euro; Coin Series Theme: "Luminous Marine Life"; Coin Theme: "Antarctic Krill"; Metal Composition: (Copper Alloy) Coloured Metal; Coin Quality: Uncirculated (U); Diameter/Size: 34.00 mm; Total Weight: 16.00 grams; Coin Designer: Kathrin Kuntner, Rebecca Wilding; Mintage: 65,000 pieces; Edge: Plain; Accessories: UV Torch for special colour effect; Packaging: Comes without packaging.
Co-developed with marine researchers, this Collector album not only stores all 12 coins in the Luminous Marine Life series but is also crammed with fascinating information about the 12 sea creatures that feature on them.
The album explains in detail how they live in and illuminate their aquatic environment and how vital that environment is for our planet as a whole, the threats it faces from humans and shows what can be done about it. It does so in a style that is understandable for youngsters yet entertaining for adults, making it a source of fun for coin collectors of all ages. You will learn, for example, about the ingenious deep-sea angler fish, which uses its very own illuminated fishing rod to lure its unsuspecting prey when hunting.
The album concludes with a quiz where you can have fun testing your newly acquired knowledge of marine biology.
It is only available in German language.
In addition to a dedicated Collector album, Luminous Marine Life also comes with its own special tool for enhancing the visual experience of the 12 coins in the series:
Through UV light, the torch maximises the experience by making the sea creatures on the coins really shine and glow. By shining the torchlight on the coins, the sea creature can be seen to change colour.
One can also use the torch to discover whether 2 of the 12 marine animals on the coins are nothing but dark or are harbouring a bright secret. And the fun does not stop with the coins themselves – illustrations and information are also hidden here and there throughout the album. By examining the pages with the torch, with a bit of luck one may discover them.
UV light is an abbreviation for ultraviolet light, which is also as known ‘black light (UV-A)’. Important instructions on how to use the lamp safely can be found on the back of the torch packaging.
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Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"Very interesting and colourful pictures. Thanks for sharing".
Thank you so much Khanna sahab. It is a very interesting coin series depicting creatures of the deep oceans where no light is there but they have their own mechanisms to light themselves like a torch to find their way.
DeleteRajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Wonderful and informative post 👍👍".
Thank you, Trikha sahab. These are unique creatures of the deep ocean, which light up as if carrying a torch to see their way or to scare predators.
DeleteRaj Kumar Srivastava has commented:
ReplyDelete"Great 👍🏻"
Thanks, Raj.
Delete