Sharks Ecotourism Conservation Preservation Ecology Nature Forever First Class Postage Stamps

Five species that live in American waters - mako, thresher, great white, hammerhead and whale shark - illustrated by Sam Weber, with Derry Noyes designing the pane. Weber worked from photographs taken by undersea photographers and checked the results against shark biologists, so the animals are drawn as animals rather than as threats. The background blue deepens as you move down the pane, which reads as descending into darker water. Sold in sheets of 20.

Sharks have been mythologized harder than almost anything else in the ocean, mostly by films. They predate the dinosaurs by a wide margin, and the 500-odd known species have spent 400 million years settling into specific ecological roles rather than a single menacing one. Aquariums, dive shops, marine conservation groups and science teachers buy these for exactly that reason - the stamps make the argument before the letter is opened. For general mail they are simply a strong-looking set. Sheets of 20, five designs, four of each.