3 euro – Deep-sea Anglerfish

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 you 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. 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.

All 12 of the magical sea creatures in the Luminous Marine Life series are shown in silhouette on the coin’s obverse. Air bubbles up between them and a tail fin disappears beneath the waves to the right. The coin’s reverse is framed by a wide band reminiscent of an old-fashioned porthole decorated with a shell and a starfish. Within the porthole the coin’s surface is black, but when illuminated with ultraviolet light a glowing red and green deep-sea anglerfish appears, with its open mouth full of long pointed teeth and a glowing ‘fishing rod’ on its forehead for catching small fish.