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What is happening to the noble pen shell?

05-07-2017 | Cabrera

The noble pen shell Pinna nobilis is a large (4 ft) marine bivalve endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s one of the most beautiful species of the Neptune (Posidonia) seagrass meadows. In recent years is has become threatened with extinction: trawling, anchoring, and decline of its main habitat, Neptune seagrass meadows.

A mass mortality event killing nobile pen shells was detected in Ibiza, Formentera and Andalucia. In less than a year, the mortality event was detected in Murcia, Valencia Mallorca Menorca, and the National Park of Cabrera. This year none of the tagged nobile pen shells in the study plots that the IEO has in Cabrera have survived.

The culprit of this mass mortality event is a haplosporidan parasite, although the species and origin is still been investigated.

¿What can we do?  Information of extent of the mortality event, but even more important, is the live individuals that have survived. You can collaborate in the citizen science project Nacra of Observadores del Mar.

More information about nobile fan shell mas mortality event:

S.O.S. Pinna nobilis: a mass mortality event in western Mediterranean Sea