To pay tribute to the giant sea fan (Annella mollis), Niue Post pleased to issue the special stamp series that feature a coral found throughout Niue’s picturesque coral reefs. It has been released as part of the WWF Conservation Stamp Collection on September 5, 2012.
Each of the four gummed stamps in this issue features the official WWF logo and they are presented together on the miniature sheet. The background of the miniature sheet gives a close-up view of a giant sea fan, and is a beautiful addition to the stamp collection.
The giant sea fan is a soft coral (Octocorallia) and belongs to the class of flower animals (Anthozoa). Its fans measure up to two metres. In this case, the ramifications are braided together and adopt the appearance of a network, whose peaks are barely distinct.Colonies are colored red to shades of pale yellow, but when the polyps are open, it seems tinged with orange-red. The ramifications are issued in a single plane.
