2023 Austria Cupro-Nickel €3 Marine Life (Swell Shark)

Coin Highlights:

• Cupro-Nickel composition.
• Individual coins are packaged in protective packaging.
• Mintage of 65,000 coins.
• Obverse: 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.
• Reverse: A color-printed swell shark is depicted on the coin’s reverse. A wide band, reminiscent of an old-fashioned porthole frames the aquatic scene where a swell shark appears to swim through the porthole, its body brown in color when illuminated with ultraviolet light glows green.
• Guaranteed by the Austrian Mint.

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An UV torch gives off a special type of light that appears to bring the underwater creatures on the coins to life as they change color and glow vividly. Tiny creatures, which only become visible when you shine UV light on them, also appear here and there next to the main characters in the series, adding an element of surprise. 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 color when necessary.

The swell shark gets its name from its ability to inflate itself to roughly double its normal size by swallowing water as a form of protection from predators. But that’s not its only amazing property – the hero of the second coin in the Luminous Marine Life series can also fluoresce green all over.

To do so, the swell shark converts incoming ultraviolet light, or blue light, into green light. A special pigment in the shark's eyes enables it to see the neon green of its conspecifics. Human eyes do not have that pigment, which is why we need an ultraviolet torch to see the swell shark’s green glow. The molecules that make swell sharks fluoresce are unique in the animal world. The light areas of their skin glow more intensely than the dark ones. Why the shark does that is not yet fully understood, but it is assumed that the process helps swell sharks to recognize each other and to distinguish between the males and females of the species. It could also be a form of camouflage and because the molecules offer protection against bacteria and algae and just happen to glow.

Austrian Mint Commemorative Coins
APMEX is proud to offer products from the Munze Österreich, or Austrian Mint. With more than 800 years of coin-production experience, the Austrian Mint in Vienna has become world-renowned for coin production and Precious Metals processing. As a subsidiary of the Austrian Central Bank, the Austrian Mint's foremost task is to produce all of the circulating euro coinage for Austria. The mint also strikes an impressive range of collector coins and medals, along with producing some of the world's best-selling bullion coins. In addition to the popular Philharmonic coins, the Austrian Mint produces many beautiful commemorative coins to honor people, places and events of its history. More than 400 million coins are produced at the Austrian Mint each year.