The stamp shows common eelgrass (Zostera marina), a key species in the Baltic Sea. Eelgrass is an aquatic vascular plant that lives entirely underwater. A major part of the eelgrass meadows in Finland are found in the Åland archipelago. The oldest Finnish bed of cloned eelgrass, said to be over 1 000 years old, is believed to be located in the Åland coastal belt.
Eelgrass forms one the most valued ecosystems on earth. Often referred to as the coral reefs of the Baltic Sea, eelgrass meadows also serve as nurseries for thousands of small fish and crustaceans as well as millions of invertebrates.
On this stamp we can see two types of fish that are found in the rivers and lakes of Andorra. These are the brown trout (Salmo trutta fario) and the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). These two fish are born at the beginning of the river systems of the Pyrenees. When they are young adults they begin a journey that takes them to the sea, where they spend their adult lives. When they reproduce, they swim upstream and return to their birthplace to lay eggs and die. In the illustration we see a young rainbow trout beginning its journey to the sea, as well as an ancient variety of brown trout ending its life cycle in the rivers of Andorra.
The lake was created due to a prehistoric landslide down Mount Meßnerin, which now holds back the accumulating water. As the snow melts, the lake fills with water, and it can reach a depth of up to eleven meters. Meadows, benches, hiking trails and jetties are all submerged in the gleaming emerald green lake, but can still be seen and recognized under water. They reemerge as the water level drops in autumn. Swimming in the Grüner See is prohibited to prevent the lake bed from being stirred up and so that the green colour is retained.
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters and weighing up to 199 ton, it is the largest animal known ever to have existed.
The blue whale was once abundant in nearly all the Earth's oceans until the end of the 19th century. It was hunted almost to the point of extinction by whalers until the International Whaling Commission banned all blue whale hunting in 1966. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed blue whales as Endangered as of 2018. It continues to face numerous man-made threats such as ship strikes, pollution, ocean noise, and climate change.
This year's Europe issue delves into underwater fauna and flora. bpost chooses to put endangered marine life in the spotlight. On the stamps we see the dogfish, an endangered species in our North Sea. Special effect: Varnish on the fish.
Soft trout ,Salmo obtusirostris (Heckel, 1851) is an endemic species of fish in the Zeta (Montenegro) and Buna and Neretva (Bosnia and Herzegovina) rivers. A characteristic feature of the soft-mouthed trout is that the height of its head drops sharply in front of the nostrils, so its muzzle is rounded. Its mouth is smaller than that of other species of salmonid, fleshy and soft, its teeth are almost covered with pulp (it got its folk name from this characteristic). On the flanks there are black spots, irregularly distributed, as well as a smaller number of red or orange spots, which coincide with the red ones.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - HRVATSKA POŠTA MOSTAR - EUROPA 2024
Date of issue: 05 Apr 2024
The Acetabularia acetabulum Jadranski klobučić) is a species of green algae from the Polyphysaceae family, which is widespread in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. It got its Croatian name (Jadranski klobučić - Adriatic cap) because of the visibly pronounced radial ribs on the white mushroom-like or umbrella-like cap. It consists of three parts: a rhizoid (a protrusion from the lower epidermal cells of mosses and algae), an 8 to 10 cm long stalk and a cap. An interesting fact is that the entire alga is one cell.
The noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) is an endemic species of the Mediterranean, the largest bivalve in the Mediterranean Sea and among the largest bivalves in the world. It lives to be around 50 years old. Unfortunately, at the beginning of 2024, only about 20 living specimens were known in the seabed of Croatia due to the disease that spread through the entire Mediterranean Sea.
The €0.64 stamp depicts the sea anemone. It belongs taxonomically to the anthozoa. There are several species of sea anemone of various colours, most of which are small in size (1.5 – 3 cm), although we can also encounter anemones with a much larger diameter. It owes its name to its overall appearance, which resembles a flower rather than a sea animal. Its body is almost cylindrical; its lower part is wider and with it it rests upright and lives on all types of marine substrate, sand rocks, empty shells and macroalgae.
Underwater life does not consist of plants and fish only, but also of amphibians, reptiles and a great number of invertebrates. Among the fish, the designers chose the pike – the queen of the native ponds. They added the beautifully coloured perch. Amphibians are represented by the northern crested newt, and crustaceans by the narrow-clawed crayfish. The swan mussel, a typical inhabitant of the native ponds, and the great ramshorn, are members of the Bivalvia and Gastropoda class, respectively, whereas the great diving beetle represents water beetles. The flora is represented by the beauty of native ponds, the white water lily.
The Breath of the Sea – Havets åndedræt In 2024, Post Europ has chosen the joint theme "Underwater Fauna & Flora," which we have translated to "The Breath of the Sea." Fjertang, in Latin Ptilota gunneri, is a worthy representative of the fantastic world found in the seas, fjords, sounds, and straits around our country. The stamp have been designed by Bertil Skov Jørgensen, known for a wide range of our stamps, and they have been created by scanning a dried original plant from Professor Emeritus Ruth Nielsen's own herbarium.
This year’s Europa stamp series showcases the captivating underwater photography of Faroese photographic artist, Harald Bjørgvin. The stamp depicts a Nudibranchs (Facelina bostoniensis), a type of sea slug, stand out as some of the most vivid and striking inhabitants of the marine world. These shell-less gastropods move in a manner akin to snails. Their Faroese name, “bertákna,” (bare gills) is inspired by their exposed respiratory organs, the gills, situated towards the back on their spine. . These creatures inhabit every ocean globally, ranging from the surface to depths exceeding 700 meters. To date, over 3,000 species of nudibranchs have been identified. The photo was taken 19th May 2020.
The animal for the Finnish Europa stamps is the Macroplea pubipennis leaf beetle, which thrives in shallow and sheltered sea bays. The beetle, which is less than a centimeter long, can seldom be found in Finland in the area from Hamina to Oulu and on the Åland Islands.
The gleaming water at the top of stamp emphasizes the fact that the species live underwater. The shape of the upper part of the stamp depicts a wave, and the uneven stamp separation creates an image of air bubbles rising to the surface,” say Susanna Rumpu and Ari Lakaniemi, the stamp’s designers.
White-sided dolphins, bottlenose dolphins living in the Black Sea, as top predators, help maintain the balance of the marine ecosystem. They regulate the population size of various species of fish and some invertebrates and prevent the spread of various diseases in their populations. In addition, the populations of these species in the sea It is a good indicator of the health of the ecosystem.
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“Stamp of Georgia”
“Georgian Post" Ltd
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0100 Tbilisi
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Germany
GERMANY - EUROPA 2024
Date of issue: 02 May 2024
The word “underwater” is wavy, as if you could see the letters through water. The animals indicated in the surrounding landscape are assigned to “fauna” and the plants to “flora”. The painterly, abstract forms create atmosphere and refer to the fragility of habitats on and in water.
The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, home to the Northeastern Atlantic Orca population. These apex predators exhibit intelligence and complex social structures, hunting in coordinated pods. They feed on various marine species, including fish, seals, and dolphins, thriving in the nutrient-rich waters. Their presence as top predators contributes to the ecosystem's balance.
Greece’s contribution for the EUROPA 2024 stamp theme “Underwater Fauna & Flora”, are seashells. Between a gastropod shell and an octopus shell-like “egg case” in these thematic stamps, we choose for the contest the shell-like egg case. This egg case is built by the female octopus Argonauta argo, from the tip of two of their arms, to lay their eggs. Air bubbles are also trapped in this shell to maintain buoyancy in the water column. Argonauta argo is a cosmopolitan species, widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean among other regions.
A uniform red shrimp that grows up to 20 cm in length. It lives in the most northerly part both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is most commonly found on muddy sea floors at depths ranging from 50 to 600 metres, but may also be found at depths well in excess of 1,000 metres.
Deep-sea shrimps feeds on worms, dead organic material, alga and various small animals that they find on the sea floor and in the oceanic water column. Deep-sea shrimp is Greenland’s most important export commodity. Consequently, the shrimp is often referred to as ‘The Red Gold’.
The 2024 theme Underwater Fauna and Flora provides the perfect opportunity to showcase some of the rich variety of sea creatures and plants that exist beneath Guernsey’s waves.
Created by Chloe Sarre, the stamps combine Wendy Bramall’s hand drawn illustrations with Sue Daly’s underwater photographs, separated by a paper tear effect.
The Yellow Cluster Anemone (Parazoanthus axinellae) is a colonial anemone. The polyps are up to 1.5 cm tall and 0.5 cm in diameter. The anemone has between 26-34 moderate to long tapering tentacles arranged in two cycles. The column is often encrusted with sand granules or sponge spicules.
The original homeland of the carp (Cyprinus carpio) is Asia and the eastern half of Europe (Eastern Europe and the Danube basin), but it was also introduced elsewhere for breeding purposes, so today it can be found in the fresh waters of practically every continent. Carp is so well-known and popular in Hungary that many people think of carp when they hear the word "fish".
The international stamp features the Compass Jellyfish, a common species that is integral to local biodiversity, harbouring juvenile fish among its tentacles, and providing a vital food source for sea turtles and ocean sunfish.
Our 2024 Europa stamp is taken from Marine Mosaics by Kimmy McHarrie, a local Manx artist who represents our Island’s connection to sea life through mosaic.
The stamp depicts an artistic interpretation of the fauna and flora of the Mediteranean Sea, which is one of the planet’s most diverse area, with thousands of species, many of which are endemic. The stamp represents the “Europa” logo. Completing the stamp the words “FAUNA E FLORA SOTTOMARINA”, “ITALIA” and the category “B Zona1” fee.
The issue features images from around Jersey’s coastline, taken by local underwater photographer and cold water swimmer, Nicola Miskin. Nicola describes her work, “Swimming in the sea all year round, photographing underwater opened my eyes to a beautiful world. The ever-changing sea is a studio of colours, patterns and reflections.”
The stamp issue contains some of the most common underwater fauna and flora found in our bays including Snakelocks anemone, Bladder wrack, Common limpet, Compass jellyfish, Flat periwinkle, Sea lettuce, Carrageen, Great scallop and Velvet Horn featured on the souvenir miniature sheet.
The St. Katrinabrunna nature reserve in the southernmost municipality of Balzers served as the backdrop for the two photographs. The nature and recreation area with two ponds was created by the municipality in 1973. Endangered plant and animal species have found a habitat there.
This includes the fish named “Egli”, known outside the Swiss-speaking world as the river perch. It is found in a wide variety of waters in Liechtenstein. It is easily recognisable thanks to the five to six dark transverse bands on its body and its spiny dorsal fin.
Astacus astacus known as the European crayfish, noble crayfish or broad-fingered crayfish, immortalized in one of the newest Lithuanian stamps, is found in fresh, clean water bodies, rivers and lakes. It is common throughout Europe, but in Lithuania it is considered an endangered species.
This year’s special stamps depict two sea dwellers from the age of the dinosaurs. In Luxembourg, several bone remains of long-extinct species have already been found. They include the discovery of a plesiosaur fossil in Sanem in the 1990s as well as that of an ichthyosaur in the Cloche d’Or district of the capital in the early 2020s.
These types of underwater creatures lived many millions of years ago, when the southern half of Luxembourg was under the sea.
The MaltaPost issue consists of two stamps. The first features the smooth starfish (scientific name: Hacelia attenuate), known in Maltese as “Stilla ħamra lixxa”, carries a denomination of €1.50 and was photographed by Prof. Alan Deidun of the University of Malta.
The smooth starfish, commonly found in Maltese waters, is an echinoderm belonging to the class Asteroidea. It is a marine invertebrate with five arms that radiate from a central disc. The upper surface may be smooth or granular and brightly coloured in various shades of red or orange. Starfish possess tube feet operated by a hydraulic system and a mouth at the centre of the lower surface.
Mantle length with arms up to 1 m long. It lives for 1-2 years and may weigh up to 9 kg. At dusk, it hunts crabs, crayfish, and bivalve mollusks and can change its colour to blend in with its surroundings.
Common in the Mediterranean, the octopus, Octopus vulgaris, illustrates this year's Europa stamp, whose theme is focused on underwater fauna and flora. The octopus mainly lives at depths between 1 and 25 meters, and up to 100 meters in winter, among rocks or in coral reefs, but also in seagrass meadows or sandy bottoms, where it hides by covering itself with stones. The Mediterranean octopus has cognitive abilities comparable to those of vertebrates. Camouflage, vision, innovation, deception, learning, memory, are facets of its intelligence.
(In order to better preserve the species, especially during the breeding periods from June to September, its capture is prohibited in certain areas of the Mediterranean.)
Gold coral, or false black coral (Savalia savaglia), is a rare species found in the Mediterranean Sea and eastern Atlantic Ocean. The largest number of colonies in the Mediterranean Sea are located in the Bay of Kotor, near Sopot Spring and Dražin Vrt.
This bushy coral is actually a parasite which often colonises gorgonian corals, which it engulfs by secreting its own protein skeleton, almost black in colour. It has numerous polyps, ranging in colour from pale white to predominantly golden yellow, hence the name “gold coral”.
Being a part of the aquatic ecosystems of European large lowland rivers, the Vistula, Odra and Bug are exceptionally valuable in terms of biodiversity. However, the habitat is systematically threatened with degradation, particularly caused by pollution. One of the environment’s representatives is the barbel (lat. Barbus barbus) depicted on the Polish 2024 EUROPA stamp. The fish usually lives in rivers with a hard, rocky or stony-gravel bottom and fast current. It also features sensitiveness to a decrease in oxygen and pollution in the water. This aspect is symbolically illustrated by the pixelated half of fish’s body and symbols of chemical elements (Fe – iron, Pb – lead, Cd – cadmium, Hg – mercury, Zn – zinc) that suffer the aquatic environment.
The Portuguese blubber jelly (Catostylus tagi) is endemic to the Portuguese coast and is most frequently seen around large estuaries such as those of the Tagus and Sado rivers.
In mid-summer, with high tides and favourable winds, they spread out across the ocean, attracting several species of sea turtles to the coast, such as leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea), which feed exclusively on gelatinous animals. At an intermediate stage of their life, before they swim freely in the water column, they anchor themselves to the seabed. As a 2- to 3-mm polyp, they can remain attached to the sea floor for weeks or even months. After breaking free from the depths, the 3- to 4-mm diameter micro-animal soon grows into its familiar form.
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PORTUGAL - CTT Portugal Post - Philately Department
The stamp illustrates the wels catfish captured in their natural habitat by the passionate diver photographer Cristian Mitrofan. The charm of the image is amplified by the presence of plants, visible only under the water mirror. Water thus presents itself as an environment of symbiosis between underwater fauna and flora. The wels catfish (Silurus glanis) is a species of freshwater fish from the Siluridae family, spread in Europe and Asia Minor, where it lives mainly in running waters, but also in clean stagnant waters with a sandy bottom.
Underwater flora brings together aquatic plants that live and grow under water.
San Marino presents a value featuring the Triturus carnifex, crested newt, an urodelo amphibian about 15 centimeters long whose males, in breeding season, are characterized by a dorsal crest and conspicuously colorful livery. Larvae sometimes suspend metamorphosis by becoming adults but retaining "neotenic" features such as gills.
Contact
Poste San Marino – Philatelic and Numismatic Division
White water-lily belongs to the water-lily family (Nymphaeaceae), a group of aquatic plants called hydrophytes. It inhabit stagnant and slow-flowing waters, such as ponds, moors, along rivers and canals. The leaves are large, round with a deep cut, on long petioles, and can be submerged or float on the surface of the water. The flowers are above the surface of the water, large and individual, white, sometimes pink. The plant blooms from June to September.
The noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) is a Mediterranean endemic species and the largest bivalve mollusc in the Mediterranean Sea. Its shell rate growth is among the fastest of any species and its shell can reach a length of more than a metre. It is generally found in sedimentary seabed habitats, most frequently in areas of seagrass, since the survival rate of fragile young shells is highest when they are hidden among grasses. Pinna nobilis plays a key ecological role by filtering water and retaining organic matter, which contributes to water clarity. By offering a habitat to numerous organisms, it also increases biodiversity. It is also important in human culture, since it is a source of sea silk and pearls and its shell is used as a receptacle. Its flesh is also prized. The noble pen shell population began to recover significantly after 2000 when the species was listed as endangered and granted protected status. In 2016 mass mortality events were recorded in the western Mediterranean, mainly caused by the parasite Haplosporidium pinnae, which in 2020 also arrived in the Gulf of Trieste. Today the noble pen shell is listed among critically endangered species.
A photograph of the underwater forest of the Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Spanish Ses Salines Natural Reserve (Ibiza) illustrates the Spanish Europa stamp in 2024.
The purity of the Pitiusas waters (Ibiza and Formentera) is a product of the extensive Posidonia meadows and their good state of conservation, favouring the diversity of exceptionally well-preserved biological communities.
Located between the surface level and up to 30-40 meters deep, they occupy large areas of the Mediterranean coast. Unlike algae, they have leaves, stem and roots. They are an endemic species to the Mediterranean Sea that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
The Baltic Sea is home to over 4 000 species, among them the porpoise Phocoena Phocoena – the only whale in this sea. The condition of the sea is of most importance for the inhabitants and contributions such as water treatment plants are crucial to maintain a healthy sea and home.
The two Swiss EUROPA stamps immerse themselves in two Swiss rivers and standing waters, which flow together symbolically to form a common habitat on the sheet of 16: the stamp taking part in the competition shows the underwater world of Lake Thun, represented by the common Lake Thun Balchen, a species of whitefish found only in Lakes Thun and Brienz. It is seen swimming past stoneworts and freshwater mussels hiding in the sediment. The second stamp depicts two causes for concern, species that live in the Doubs: the endangered white-clawed crayfish and the Zingel asper, the rarest fish in Switzerland.
The Underwater Nature stamps depict a chub (fish) and a water gentian (plant). The chub (Rhodeus amarus) is a small plant-loving fish with a highly built, laterally flattened body. The males have a purplish-red glow in the spawning season. For reproduction, the chub seeks out a live freshwater mussel and lures a fertile female to it. She lays her eggs in the gill cavity of the mussel, after which the male releases his roe at the inlet opening. The Dutch name for the chub (bittervoorn) comes from the bitter taste of its flesh, probably a repellent against predatory fish.
Türkiye is home to approximately 5,000 plant and animal species along its coastline, which exceeds 9,000 km. Diversity in underwater creatures is observed in the Black Sea, Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara seas due to differences in water temperature, salinity ratio, depth, light intensity, currents. Türkiye, which has charming underwater images, is among the indispensable addresses of diving tourism.
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The Republic Of Türkiye, Post and Telegraph Corporation
Promotion and Marketing Dept. - Philately and Museum Section
Ukrposhta dedicated its issue to the rich and diverse underwater world of the Black Sea, the ecology of which is currently suffering from the scrap metal of the russian military fleet.
The postage stamp depicts a bright green-bellied sardine (Symphodus tinca) - a marine reef fish that lives at depths from 1 to 50 m. The color of the fish depends on the habitat/ Off the coast of Crimea, individuals with a length of no more than 10.5-14 cm are usually found. The second stamp shows the largest representative of its species in the Black Sea - the stone crab (Eriphia verrucosa). For life, the crab chooses deep-water areas - up to 30 m, with stony soil. The species is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. It is protected in the Mys Martyan and Karadazsky nature reserves.
The issue sketches also feature one of the most beautiful sea creatures - the horse sea anemone (a group of soft-bodied animals that belong to the class of coral polyps).
With an area of just 44 hectares, the Vatican City State is the smallest independent state in the world. Yet despite the limitations dictated by its territorial boundaries, the Vatican offers with its Gardens a natural, architectural and artistic space of great beauty made up of plants, pleasant nooks and crannies and fountains, stretching some 23 hectares over much of the Vatican Hill. Certainly counted among the most emblematic spots, the Casina Pio IV and the Aquilone Fountain also offered us the cue and subjects for the annual issue with the Europe theme “Underwater Fauna and Flora.”
