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The Lined Sweetlips

The International Mission for the Study of the Coelacanth (Mission Internationale pour l'étude du Cœlacanthe) was organized in the early 1970s to research the living coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), a prehistoric "living fossil" fish famously rediscovered in the deep waters off the Comoros Archipelago. To finance and commemorate this major scientific expedition, the postal administration issued overprinted airmail stamps calling global attention to Comorian marine biodiversity and paleontological research. Originally issued as part of a fauna series depicting local reef fish specifically the Diagonal-banded Sweetlips (Diagramma lineatus / Soumaha) this airmail stamp (POSTE AERIENNE) from the Comoros Archipelago (Archipel des Comores) was revalued with a black overprint. Designed and engraved by Robert Derrey (DERREY), the stamp displays the three-line black overprint: "Mission Internationale pour l'étude du Cœlacanthe", along with bars surcharging the original 90F denomination to a new 120F value.