5 Dollars Surgeon Fish

Palau has issued commemorative wildlife coinage under various licensing arrangements since the late 1990s, with many pieces produced by foreign mints on contract rather than struck domestically — Palau has no mint of its own. The surgeon fish series sits within a broader Pacific marine conservation push that coincided with Palau establishing one of the world's first shark sanctuaries in 2009, two years after this coin was struck.