Shark Week 6 Tuvalu’s Thresher Sharks

The nine islands of Tuvalu are about 174 miles north of Niuafo’ou, halfway between Hawai’i and Australia, just west of the International Dateline.

The island group was formerly called the Ellice Islands. These islands were first settled sometime after about 3,000 years ago, probably from Samoa or Tonga.

Eight of the islands were inhabited, and the name Tuvalu reflects this, meaning “eight standing together.” All eight of them are built up from seamounts capped by reefs to break the water surface.

It was found by the Spanish in 1568. Great Britain claimed them in the late 19^th century, and until 1978 they were managed as a colony, either alone or included in larger administration areas.

In 1978 they gained independence, but remain part of the Commonwealth.

Tuvalu issued its first stamps in 1976, after becoming a stand-alone colony within the British Empire. They were overprinted stamps.

Early in their postal history they contracted with the Philatelic Distribution Corporation, which the nation sued in the late 1980s for producing deliberate errors and varieties in order to inflate prices of stamps sold to collectors.

Until 2018 there were only about 110 postal addresses in the nations. At that time, the country made what3words the standard for addresses. This is a London-based proprietary system that uses words to stand in for GPS coordinates, and can locate any place to within about 10 feet.

This series of stamps was issued on 1 April 2016, printed by lithography, with a perforation of 14.

They were issued in conjunction with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).

All of the stamps feature the Common Thresher Shark, Alopias vulpinus, and have a face value of $1.50.

The Common Thresher is the largest of the three species of thresher sharks, growing to 20 feet (6 m), but about half that length is their tail. They occur worldwide in tropical and cold-temperate waters worldwide. They are mostly known from near shore, usually not farther than 20 miles (30 km), but they are found in lower numbers in the open ocean.

They are strong and fast swimmers, clocked among the fastest species of shark. Their unusual tail shape, with the long upper half, may have something to do with their speed, however, it has another use unrelated to speed.

Common Threshers use the whip-like upper tail like a whip, and flick it at prey to stun it. Many threshers are caught on fishing lines by the tail, presumably because the shark tried to stun the bait. They also use it to help corral their main prey, small schooling fishes like mackerel and anchovies.

There is only one recorded attack on humans. They are usually shy, swimming away from divers. Despite their size, have small teeth, and only rarely take large prey.

They are commercially fished, especially as a source of fins for soup. Threshers are also considered a good sport recreational fish, primarily fished off California and South Africa. The California population, however, has dropped by over 50% over the last few years, and the species as a whole is considered vulnerable.

Despite being migratory, the various populations seem not to mix, so when they are gone from one area, they are probably gone for a long, long time, if not for good.