500 Meticais Moorish Idol Fish

Mozambique's 1989 wildlife series was issued partly as a hard-currency earner during a period when the country was still deep in civil war — the RENAMO conflict had devastated the domestic economy, and commemorative silver issues exported abroad were among the few reliable sources of foreign exchange. The Moorish idol, native to Indo-Pacific reefs including those off the Mozambican coast, was a deliberate choice to signal the country's marine resources to an international audience.