Marine Biodiversity…

 

The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) issued stamps to highlight the Philippines as one of the world’s center of marine biodiversity. The country boosts an abundant coral reef showcasing the vast variety of marine life.The Philippine Marine Biodiversity stamps features eight (8) unique designs in triangular format which will be the first of its kind in the Philippines.

The marine species featured in the stamps are the Lemon Goby, Dragon Wrasse, Spotted Puffer, the three-spot Angelfish, the white –tailed Damsel fish, the Orange Sea Perch, the Lemonpeel Angelfish, and the electric-blue Damsel.

50th Fish Conservation Week

Date of Issue : 14 October 2013

The Philippine Postal Corporation  issued a set of stamps to commemorate the 50^th Fish Conservation Week, featuring endangered and/or threatened marine species. These designs were taken from the winning entries of the last year BFAR’s Fish on the Red List Painting Competition.

Stamp designs :

Stamp 1  The Last stand- Jaylord G. Agliway, Green Sea Turtle with  Giant Manta Ray, Hammerhead  Shark

Stamp 2  Small things are Big  Jon Carlos A. Tabios. Dwarf pygmy goby (Tabios)

Stamp 3  Deep Blue Sea  Bernardino V. Vergara Jr .Whale Shark  Butanding  

 

Date of Issue : 14 October 2013

The first stamp features a painting of a Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)with a Giant Manta Ray(Manta birostris) and silhouettes of four Scalloped Hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) behind it. One of the five marine turtles found in the Philippines, Green Sea Turtle or pawikan swims in sub-tropical and tropical seas. This species is Endangered under the IUCN Red List and included in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix I because of illegal trades and poaching.

The second stamp is inspired by the painting of a Dwarf Pygmy Goby (Pandaka pygmaea). Tabiosand bia in vernacular tongue, Dwarf Pygmy Goby is the smallest fish in the world by mass and are endemic in the Philippines. However its population vanished or became extinct due to heavy pollution and land reclamation projects. Dwarf Pygmy Goby is listed as €œCritically Endangered€ under International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN Red List.

The third stamp employs the painting depicting the largest fish in the world known as Whale Shark or €œbutanding€. Scientifically named as Rhincodon typus, Whale Shark is a migratory filter feeder that lives in all tropical and warm-temperate seas.