New parasite decimates giant clam species in Mediterranean
Source: Associated Press
New parasite decimates giant clam species in Mediterranean
By ELENA BECATOROS
December 4, 2018
ANAVYSSOS, Greece (AP) — With rapid efficiency, a mysterious parasite is seeking out and killing a giant species of clam found only in the Mediterranean Sea. Unless scientists can find a way of stopping it soon, they say the mollusk could go extinct.
For thousands of years, the emblematic noble pen shell has been intrinsically connected to human civilization. The largest bivalve in the Mediterranean can grow to more than a meter (three feet) long and has provided food and one of the world’s rarest materials: sea silk spun from fibers it uses to secure itself to the seabed. The mollusk also contributes to clear water by filtering out organic particulates.
The pen shell, Pinna nobilis, has been on the European Union’s protected species list for decades because of overfishing, pollution and the destruction of its natural habitat, meaning any fishing is banned. But the ban is often poorly enforced, with the animal harvested for food or for its shell, which is used for decorative purposes.
The pen shells, which have a life span of several decades and take years to reach reproductive age, were already dying faster than they could be replaced. So the spread of the microscopic parasite, which first appeared in the western Mediterranean in late 2016 and was identified just this year as a new species, has alarmed experts.
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