Lampern, asp and vendace make a splash

2nd class postage stamps

Lampern, asp and vendace make a splash on the new Finnish non-denominated 2nd class postage stamps. The self-adhesive stamps were issued by Finland Post on 6 September 2001.
The stamps are self-adhesive roll stamps. Each roll contains all three stamps.

designed by Päivi Vainionpää

Three provincial fish are the pictorial subjects of the stamps: the lampern of Satakunta, the asp of Pirkanmaa and the vendace of Savonia.
The stamps were designed by Päivi Vainionpää. The illustrations on the stamps are collages, combinations of photographs. The photos were taken by Markku Varjo, Reijo Juurinen, Jyrki Jahnukainen and Jussi T. Pennanen.

Lampern

The lampern (lampetra fluviatilis) is not realy a fish, but a vertebrate of the family Petromyzonidae, with no jaw and a suctorial mouth. Grown lamperns are 25-35 cm long and weigh 40-65 grams. Due to the cleaning out and damming up of rivers, the lampern is becoming increasingly rare.

Asp

In Finland, the asp (aspius aspius) is a rare species. It was severely endangered, but timely saved from extirpation in the 1980s. The asp occurs naturally in the Kymi and Kokemäki rivers.

Vendace

The vendace (coregonus albula) is a small shoal fish with silver flanks. The lower jaw is shorter than the upper one. It has an adipose fin behind the soft dorsal one. The vendace thrives in deep, clean lakes, but also survives in the practically non-saline northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia.