250 Francs CFA Megateuthis Gigantea

*Megateuthis gigantea* was a Jurassic-era cephalopod reaching estimated lengths of two meters — one of the largest squid-like creatures in the fossil record, known almost entirely from its guards (the solid internal calcite rods that fossilize readily while soft tissue vanishes). Senegal's inclusion of it in a gold fractional series continues a pattern of Francophone West African nations issuing collector coinage under CFA authority featuring subjects entirely unconnected to regional natural history, with production almost certainly contracted to a European private mint rather than struck domestically.