ARCHIVED - Giant fan mussels vandalized in Mar Menor reserve

The species has almost been wiped out in the Mediterranean but survives in the Mar Menor

Over the last couple of years great efforts have been made to preserve the few remaining examples of the giant fan mussel (Pinna nobilis) off the coastline of the Region of Murcia, and as the population of the species was practically wiped out by a parasite in the whole of the western Mediterranean it was with great relief that a significant number of survivors were found in the more saline water of the Mar Menor.

However, a discouraging discovery made last week near Isla Perdiguera in the centre of the lagoon suggests that unfortunately the fan mussel’s enemies are not limited to the devastating parasite which attacked the species after 5 million years in the Mediterranean. In an area which had been designated am ecological reserve by the regional government 15 mussels were found to have been removed from the sea bed and piled up close to their original location, and sources quoted in the regional press claim that their removal “was not accidental”.

The mussels were found during a regular weekly check on their condition, and although it is just about possible that this act of environmental vandalism was caused by negligence it seems more likely that for reasons which it is hard to guess at someone deliberately attacked the molluscs. Fortunately, 11 of the 15 were still alive and have been replaced on the seabed, while the other four have been taken to the aquarium of the University of Murcia so that experts can attempt to determine when they died.

Until the problems began a few years ago the fan mussel was especially common near Isla Grosa, the small island off the Mediterranean coast of La Manga del Mar Menor, but the arrival of the previously unknown parasite caused it to practically disappear in under a year. Hundreds of fan mussels suddenly died, and although typically the molluscs in this area measured “only” around 25 centimetres their loss was lamented as they performed an important role in filtering seawater of impurities.

Around Isla Grosa the concentration of the species, of around 30 per 100 square metres, had been the highest in Spain, and as their disappearance from this area seemed to spell the imminent end of their presence in the western Mediterranean the survival of around 200 in the Mar Menor – at least until the recent gota fría storm – was viewed as little short of a miracle.

The Pinna nobilis began to colonize the Mar Menor after the Estacio canal in La Manga was widened in the 1970s, and long prior to that the fascinating creature had been used by Man as a source of sea silk, which comes from the “byssus” by which the mussel attaches itself to the sea bed. When these filaments are treated with lemon juice they turn gold in colour and never fade, and the cloth produced is even finer than silk.

At the same time, though, it is very light and warm, and this made it a luxury material for ladies’ gloves and stockings: some even believe that the byssus was used to wrap mummies in Ancient Egypt!

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