2981) The "Anglerfish (Lophiiformes)", Republic of Austria (Oesterreich Republik): Fourth Coin in the "Luminous Marine Life Coin Series": A 3 Euro Copper-Alloy Coin features this Underwater Marine invertebrate: Date/Year of Coin issue: 13.09.2023:
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 Anglerfish (Fourth Coin in the Series):
The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order Lophiiformes.
They are bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent fin ray (the esca or illicium) acts as a lure for other fish. The luminescence comes from symbiotic bacteria, which are thought to be acquired from seawater, that dwell in and around the sea.
Some anglerfish are notable for extreme sexual dimorphism and sexual symbiosis of the small male with the much larger female, seen in the suborder "Ceratioidei", (the deep-sea anglerfish). In these species, males may be several orders of magnitude smaller than females.
Anglerfish occur worldwide. Some are pelagic (dwelling away from the sea floor), while others are benthic (dwelling close to the sea floor).
Some live in the deep sea (such as the Ceratiidae), while others live on the continental shelf, such as the frogfishes and the Lophiidae (monkfish or goosefish).
Pelagic forms are most often laterally compressed, whereas the benthic forms are often extremely dorsoventrally compressed (depressed), often with large upward-pointing mouths.
The anglerfishes diversified in a short period of the early to mid-Cretaceous, between 130 and 100 million years ago.
All anglerfish are carnivorous and are thus adapted for the capture of prey.
Ranging in colour from dark gray to dark brown, deep-sea species have large heads that bear enormous, crescent-shaped mouths full of long, fang-like teeth angled inward for efficient prey grabbing.
Their length can vary from 2–18 cm (1–7 in), with a few types getting as large as 100 cm (39 in), but this variation is largely due to sexual dimorphism, with females being much larger than males.
Frogfish and other shallow-water anglerfish species are ambush predators, and often appear camouflaged as rocks, sponges or seaweed.
Anglerfish have a flap, or the illicium, towards the distal end of their body on their first of two dorsal fins which extends to the snout and acts as a luring mechanism where prey will approach in a face-to-face manner.
The source of their luminescence is symbiotic bacteria that dwell in and around the esca, enclosed in a cup-shaped reflector containing crystals, probably consisting of guanine. Anglerfish make use of these symbiotic relationships with extracellular luminous bacteria.
Only a handful of luminescent symbiont species can associate with deep-sea anglerfishes.
The Deep-Sea Angler Fish:
With a spherical body, large head and a mouth packed with sharp teeth, deep-sea anglerfish are bizarre-looking creatures found below a depth of 300 metres in all the world's oceans.
With a body length of between 6 centimetres and 1.2 metres, it is amazing how much larger the female is than the male, which tends to reach only a few centimetres in length.
To catch their prey, female deep-sea anglerfish are equipped with a ‘fishing rod’ (illicium) and attached ‘lure’ (esca), which is usually equipped with a luminescent organ.
The internal structure of the esca is complex and includes a bewildering variety of vesicles filled with luminescent bacteria.
In addition to the esca’s luminescent organ, all species of the genus Linophryne possess a light-producing barbel on the hyoid bone. However, the barbel’s light does not come from light-producing bacteria but from a photogenic granulate lying between the cells. The independent development of two different light-producing mechanisms in this genus is unique in the natural world.
Threats:
Northwest European Lophius species are listed by the ICES as "outside safe biological limits".
Additionally, anglerfish are known to occasionally rise to the surface during El Niño, leaving large groups of dead anglerfish floating on the surface.
The Fourth Coin in the Series:
As dark and scary as the deep blue sea itself, a black coin like the Deep-sea Anglerfish has never been seen before.
When illuminated with ultraviolet light its secret is revealed as one come face to face with a scary sea monster. A highlight of Luminous Marine Life, the fourth coin in the 3-Euro series is more than worthy of a sea creature that could not be more extraordinary.
The peripheral inscriptions read - "TIEFSEE. ANGLERFISCH. 2023". On the left periphery is marked the depth of the Ocean - 300, 400, 500, 600 metres.
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: 13.09.2023; Coin Denomination: 3 Euro; Coin Series Theme: "Luminous Marine Life"; Coin Theme: "deep-sea Angler Fish"; 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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