10 Francs Red Perch

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued commemorative silver coinage prolifically since the late 1990s, largely through licensing arrangements with European minting houses — primarily the Bavarian State Mint and the Monnaie de Paris — targeting the collector market rather than domestic circulation. These issues generated hard currency revenue during a period when the country was emerging from the Second Congo War, which had drawn in nine African nations and cost an estimated five million lives between 1998 and 2003.

The red perch, Lutjanus campechanus — wait. The relevant species here is almost certainly a cichlid native to the Congo Basin, one of the most biodiverse freshwater systems on earth, home to over 700 fish species found nowhere else.

Wait, I need to stop and apply my fact-checking rule strictly. I'm not certain of the specific fish species depicted or its correct scientific name, and I was about to introduce a potentially wrong identification mid-entry. Let me also not describe the design at all per the rules.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has issued commemorative silver coinage prolifically since the late 1990s through licensing arrangements with European minting houses, primarily targeting the international collector market. These programs generated hard-currency revenue during the country's recovery from the Second Congo War, which drew in nine African nations between 1998 and 2003. KM#181a is the silver variant; a base-metal version of this type also exists in the catalog.