The U. S. Postal service issued Bioluminescent Life Stamps celebrating life-forms that create their own light and perform a variety of functions, including support for medical research.

The Stamps include glowing marine species, a firefly and a cluster of mushrooms captured on the surface.

The stamps are issued as a Forever stamp and available as a pane of 20.

This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1-ounce price.

Check Also: United States Stamp program 2018

About Bioluminescent Life Stamps

The U.S. Postal Service searched the darkness of the deep ocean realm in its quest to deliver the luminous beauty of bioluminescent life on highly-reflective Forever stamps.

Date of Issue: 22 February 2018
Venue: Sunrise Theater, Fort Pierce, FL.
Denomination: Forever x 10

What is Bioluminescence?
Bioluminescence — the ability of some living things to generate their own light — occurs on many branches of the tree of life.

At the center top, the selvage — or area outside the stamps — features a transparent deep-sea comb jelly (Gregory G. Dimijian photo), surrounded by images of the firefly squid (Dante Fenolio).

The title “BIOLUMINESCENT LIFE” appears on the selvage above the pane of stamps.

The 10 different images on this pane of stamps include photographs captured by some of the top explorers of the bioluminescent ocean realm including photos of two terrestrial bioluminescent life-forms.

The stamps feature:

• deep-ocean octopus (Widder)
• midwater jellyfish (Widder)
• deep-sea comb jelly (Widder)
• mushroom (Taylor F. Lockwood)
• firefly (Gail Shumway)
• bamboo coral (Widder)
• marine worm (Widder)
• crown jellyfish (Widder)
• the second type of marine worm (Steve Haddock)
• sea pen (Widder).

The photographs appearing on seven stamp images are the work of Dr. Edith Widder.

Dr. Edith Widder is a founder, CEO and senior scientist at ORCA and recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on deep-sea exploration.

Special Features of Bioluminescent Life Stamps

Although these stamps do not glow in the dark, they do incorporate a special effect.

The stamp pane is produced using a proprietary rainbow holographic material that is highly reflective in white light.

The stamps are produced using special techniques to enhance the reflective qualities of the material while maintaining the depth of color and detail of the individual images.

The rainbow pattern imparts a sense of movement and light to the stamp pane.

New Zealand post in 2016 issued similar stamps featuring Native Glowworms as the bioluminescent beauty of New Zealand.

Dazzling Stamps

From left, the first row of stamps features a deep-ocean octopus (Stauroteuthis syrtensis) and a midwater jellyfish (Atolla vanhoeffeni), both photographed by Edith Widder of Ft. Pierce, FL.

The octopus was photographed under external lighting. On each row of stamps, the third and fourth stamps repeat the first two designs.

The second row of stamps begins with a deep-sea comb jelly (Bathocyroe fosteri), also by Widder and lit externally, then a cluster of mushrooms (Mycena lucentipes) by Taylor F. Lockwood of Mount Dora, FL.

The third row features a firefly (Lampyridae) by Gail Shumway of Sarasota, FL, followed by a bamboo coral (Keratoisis flexibilis) by Widder.

Widder also photographed both fourth-row images: a marine worm (Flota) and a crown jellyfish (Atolla wyvillei). Both are shown under external lighting.

The fifth and final row of stamps offers another type of marine worm (Tomopteris), by Steve Haddock of Moss Landing, CA, and a sea pen (Umbellula) by Widder. Both marine species are shown under external lighting.

Bioluminescence phenomenon

Stamps Information Source: USPS official website

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