The noble pen shell, a threatened mollusc in the Mediterranean Sea, winner of the Animal of the Year 2018 Contest

The goal of this contest to improve social awareness on the endangered species.
The goal of this contest to improve social awareness on the endangered species.
Research
(29/09/2017)

The noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis), a species that was submitted by the University of Barcelona to participate in the contest of Animal and Plant of the year 2018, is the winner of this contest, organized by the website Los porqués de la Naturaleza to improve social awareness on the endangered species. In the category of Plant of the Year, the honour was given to Cistus heterophyllus, a species of flowering plant of the family of Cistaceae, which was submitted to the contest by the Technical University of Cartagena.

 

The goal of this contest to improve social awareness on the endangered species.
The goal of this contest to improve social awareness on the endangered species.
Research
29/09/2017

The noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis), a species that was submitted by the University of Barcelona to participate in the contest of Animal and Plant of the year 2018, is the winner of this contest, organized by the website Los porqués de la Naturaleza to improve social awareness on the endangered species. In the category of Plant of the Year, the honour was given to Cistus heterophyllus, a species of flowering plant of the family of Cistaceae, which was submitted to the contest by the Technical University of Cartagena.

 

Several universities from different autonomous communities have submitted proposals of plants and animals which are especially threatened in their natural habitat in this contest, created and coordinated by Jesús Cebrino Cruz, researcher from the University of Seville. With the collaboration of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona and the Faculty of Biology, the noble pen shell and the larkspur have been the candidates to take part in this contest that reaches its fifth edition, willing to protect diversity around the country by sharing information about these endangered speciesʼ features, ecology and problems.

The biggest and longest-lived bivalve shell in the Mediterranean


The noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) is an endemic bivalve shell of the Mediterranean Sea which is highly sensitive to the effects of human activity in ocean floors. This species, which can reach a length of one meter, is the biggest and longest-lived bivalve of the Mediterranean and was first described by Carl von Linneo in 1758.

The noble pen shell lives in the sandy ocean floors and the marine phanerogam glasslands of Posidonia oceanica, the noble pen shell is a species in decline due the effects of the pollution in the sea, boat anchoring, bottom-trawling fishing and removal of Posidonia. A pathogenic agent that has been decimating the populations of this bivalve for years is enlarging the list of threats for this marine invertebrate which was abundant in the marine ecosystems of the Mediterranean. 

The rest of species that took part in the Animal and Plant of the year 2018 Contest are the Apollo (Parnassius apollo) -submitted by the University of Valencia-; the northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita) and the Limonium dendroides -University of Córdoba-; the Triops emeritensis -University of Extremadura-; the European mink (Mustela lutreola) and the Drosera longifolia (Drosera longifolia) -University of Burgos-; and the Gadoria falukei -University of Seville.