10 Rupees Queen angelfish

Mauritius introduced a bimetallic redesign of its circulation coinage in 2007, but the 10-rupee denomination retained copper-nickel through subsequent issues, resisting the trend toward bimetallic construction seen across much of the Commonwealth. The queen angelfish, Holacanthus ciliaris, was selected as part of a broader move to replace the colonial-era agricultural and portrait imagery that had dominated Mauritian coinage since independence in 1968.

The island has no native population of Holacanthus ciliaris — a species native to the western Atlantic — which has drawn quiet criticism from marine biologists since the series launched.