Republic of the Philippines - Stamps & Postal History

 

RP Issues of 2010

HOMEPAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010, April 21.  Philippine Marine Biodiversity - Definitives 

Litho Offset.  Amstar Company, Inc.  Perf. 13.5

Singles, Sheets of 100  (10 x 10)

         

          

       

 

     8p  -  Harlequin Shrimp - Singles  (350,000)

   20p  -  Blue Sea Squirts - Singles  (750,000)

 

Designer:  Darwin A. Marfil

Graphic Artist:  Jiomer E. Dacaymat

Design Coordinators:  Victorino Z. Serevo;  Elenita D.L. San Diego

Source:  Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific by Dr. Terence Gosliner

 

First Day Covers:  Manila

 


The Philippines forms an ocean region that has long been recognized as the world’s center of marine biodiversity. With the Malay archipelago, Papua New Guinea and Australia, the country forms the ‘Coral Triangle,’ so-called because of the abundance of its coral reef life. Some 400-500 species in 90 genera of reef-forming corals are believed to exist in this region. Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, a 900,000-square-kilometer marine eco-region that lies at the apex of the Coral Triangle (70% in the Philippines, 20% Indonesia, 10% Malaysia), is home to some 2,500 species of fish.  The Philippine center of diversity was found to have the highest species richness for all distributions combined as well as when shore fish distributions were treated separately.

8p Harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera sp.)  Some of the most unusual of all of the ornamental marine shrimp. The ornate markings, vivid coloration and odd shaped claws make them desirable to many hobbyists but there is a catch to keeping these striking shrimp. They only eat the legs and suction cup feet of starfish.

20p Blue Sea Squirt (Rhopalaea crassa).  Sea squirts  are common in all marine habitats, attaching themselves to virtually any fixed object on a coral reef. To feed, they constantly filter out bacteria and phytoplankton by passing a continuous stream of water through their body. The larger of the two openings is the mouth, or incurrent aperture, and the smaller is the excurrent aperture. The water stream is kept moving by the action of tiny cilia (hairs) that line the inside of the tunicate body. Waste products are also expelled through the excurrent aperture.   These tunicates are about 1 1/2 inches in length.   In the Philippines, it's common to see five or more of these blue tunicates in small colony-like formations. When disturbed, tunicates draw up the incurrent and excurrent apertures, much like a drawstring around the rim of a bag.  http://divegallery.com/tunicate.htm

 

TOPICAL CATEGORIES

 

  • Marine Biodiversity

  • Marine Life

 

Articles by Dr. Ngo Tiong Tak

 

 

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Issues of 2010