5 Pesos Giant Gar Fish

Cuba's early 1980s wildlife series was produced primarily for the hard-currency export market — peso-denominated coins with no realistic domestic circulation function under the island's dual monetary system. The giant gar (Atractosteus tristoechus), a prehistoric fish native to Cuban waterways, was already under serious pressure from habitat loss by the time this coin was struck, lending the series an inadvertent conservation dimension that wasn't part of the original program rationale.

The JMA references suggest two catalog variants exist within this type — likely distinguishable by edge treatment or proof finish rather than die design.