Faroese Banknotes 500 Krone banknote 2011 Crab
Obverse: The 500-krone banknote depicts a fragment of a shore crab printed in intaglio. The back ground to the shore crab is a watercolour of the sandy seabed viewed through water.
Reverse: The motif on the reverse is a watercolour of the village of Hvannasund, the channel between Borðoy and Viðoy, where many shore crabs can be found along the beach.
Signatures: High Commissioner: Dan Michael Knudsen, Minister of Finance: Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen. Wide windowed security thread at right on front. One 7-digit horizontal serial number at upper left on front and another one with 6 digits at lower left on front. OMRON-rings on both sides.
Watermark: Ram's head - Faroes sheep. The Faroes is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Faroe Islands. One of the Northern European short-tailed sheep, it is a small, very hardy breed. "Faeroe islands" means "sheep islands" and this animal is on Faroese coat of arms.
Format: 155 x 72 mm.
Printer: Banknote Printing Works and The Royal Danish Mint, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Faroese banknotes - Currency of the Faroe Islands
2011 Issue
The motifs are inspired by the Faroese landscape and fauna. The faces of the banknotes show fragments of fauna, while the reverse motifs are reproductions of watercolours of Faroese landscapes. The watercolours are by the Faroese artist Zacharias Heinesen. The motifs have been chosen, among other reasons, for their dissimilarity, so that the banknotes are easy to distinguish from each other. The fauna motifs are fragments, which gives the banknotes a vivid appearance. The watercolours lend a special quality of lightness to the banknotes.
50 Kronur 100 Kronur 200 Kronur 500 Kronur 1000 Kronur
Carcinus maenas
Carcinus maenas is a common littoral crab, and an important invasive species, listed among the 100 "world's worst alien invasive species". It is native to the north-east Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea, but has colonised similar habitats in Australia, South Africa, South America and both Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America. It grows to a carapace width of 90 millimetres (3.5 in), and feeds on a variety of molluscs, worms and small crustaceans, potentially impacting a number of fisheries. Its successful dispersion has occurred via a variety of mechanisms, such as on ships' hulls, packing materials, bivalves moved for aquaculture, and rafting.
Carcinus maenas is known by different names around the world. In the British Isles, it is generally referred to as the shore crab, or green shore crab. In North America and South Africa, it bears the name green crab or European green crab. In Australia and New Zealand, it is referred to as either the European green crab or European shore crab.
Carcinus maenas has a carapace up to 60 millimetres (2.4 in) long and 90 mm (3.5 in) wide, but can be larger outside its native range, reaching 101 mm (4.0 in) wide in British Columbia. The carapace has five short teeth along the rim behind each eye, and three undulations between the eyes. The undulations, which protrude beyond the eyes, are the simplest means of distinguishing C. maenas from the closely related Carcinus aestuarii, which can also be an invasive species. In Carcinus aestuarii, the carapace lacks any bumps and extends forward beyond the eyes. Another characteristic for distinguishing the two species is the form of the first and second pleopods (collectively the gonopods), which are straight and parallel in Carcinus aestuarii, but curve outwards in Carcinus maenas.
The colour of Carcinus maenas varies greatly, from green to brown, grey or red. This variation has a genetic component, but is largely due to local environmental factors. In particular, individuals which delay moulting become red–coloured rather than green. Red individuals are stronger and more aggressive, but are less tolerant of environmental stresses, such as low salinity or hypoxia. Juvenile crabs on average display greater patterning than adults.
Hvannasund
Hvannasund (Danish: Kvannesund, older Quannesund) is a village and municipality in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region in Denmark.
Hvannasund located on the west coast of the island of Viðoy. It faces Norðdepil on Borðoy. The villages are connected to each other by a dam. A large cracked rock rests in an area just north of Hvannasund. An old legend details that the rock, called Skrudhettan, broke the very moment that Jesus was born.
On 26 May 2008, the ocean inexplicably receded 2½ – 3 metres before suddenly hitting the area with great strength. A couple of days later, it was reported that a mini-tsunami had hit Hvannasund. There were no injuries or fatalities.
On 3 September 2008, a majority of the town council, notably excluding the mayor, announced that there would be a referendum on merging Hvannasund municipality with the municipality of Klaksvík. The referendum was held on 17 September. Of the 321 eligible, 278 cast their votes. The result was 68 in favor, 208 against and 2 blanks, thus the merger was rejected.