These two stamp cards are part of a larger series, British River Fishes, issued in 1983. The other two which I no longer have were salmon and trout.
I've always said that collecting postcards, and in this case also stamp collecting, is educational. In many parts of France, they fish and eat a river fish called "sandre". They happily told me it was a hybrid of pike and perch but I see now from the stamp cards that in fact pike and perch are not only different species but different families.
So I investigated further and Wikipedia tells me that "sandre" or zander is called pike-perch only because it resembles both fish. Apparently it's considered a delicacy in many places in Europe. I can certainly vouch for it being very pleasant to eat.
Back to the present, and the task in hand. This is a post for Sunday Stamps, hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!" As usual, click on the link to see some other fishy tales.
Both are beautiful stamps! Makes me curious to know the other ones from this serie.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your research regarding the perch / pike, interesting story!
I'm not used to river fishes, being a Mediterranean woman :D
ReplyDeleteI agree that stamps are highly educational.
I never saw this set. When I was a boy it was quite common to catch perch in the river near us. I never succeeded in catching a pike,
ReplyDeleteI know Pike! These are 2 great stamps and love to hear about some history on it. I wonder what the other 2 looked like
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to imagine that these two very different fish have a combination name.
ReplyDeleteI've never eaten either of these two fish.
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