Fish series - Orange Spot Filefish

Orange Spot Filefish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris),   also known as the Harlequin Filefish, was featured in a special postage stamp collection issued by Vanuatu post in 2013, in an official partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The stamp set celebrates a highly specialized and visually striking marine creature native to the Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Orange Spot Filefish appearance is distinguished by a pale blue/green body covered in neat rows of bright orange-yellow spots, ending in a long, tapered snout. Beyond visual blending, they absorb chemicals from the coral they eat so they actually smell like the coral to hide from predators. Listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List due to their absolute reliance on healthy coral reef ecosystems, making them highly susceptible to coral bleaching.