Mass mortality of the fan mussel, Pinna nobilis in Turkey (eastern Mediterranean)

Abstract

The fan mussel, or noble pen shell, Pinna nobilis Linnaeus, 1758 is an endemic species to the Mediterranean belonging to the Pinnidae family (Vázquez-Luis et al., 2017). The species is known as the largest bivalve for this region (Katsanevakis, 2006). Pinna nobilis lives at depths ranging from 0.5 to 80 m (Öndes, Kaiser, & Güçlüsoy, 2020). The habitats of P. nobilis include algae and phanerogam facies, muddy and sandy substrates (Katsanevakis, 2006; Prado, Caiola, & Ibáñez, 2014). Differences were found in the population density of P. nobilis among habitats, depth and ecoregions (Basso et al., 2015). This species plays key ecological roles including providing a habitat for many species, reducing turbidity and filtering water (Katsanevakis et al.

Current Status of Critically Endangered Fan Mussel Pinna nobilis (Linnaeus 1758) Population in Çanakkale Strait, Turkey

“…In Turkey, some characteristics of the species have been investigated such as growth (Acarli et al, 2011a;Demirci and Acarli, 2019), spat settlement (Acarli et al, 2011b;Kurtay et al, 2018), and gonad development (Acarli et al, 2018). However, there is an exclusive study on the determination of P. nobilis population in the Aegean Sea and the Marmara Sea (Acarlı et al, 2020;Öndes et al, 2020a). However, there is no study on the P. nobilis population in the Çanakkale Strait.…”

Pathophysiological Responses of Pinna nobilis Individuals Enlightens the Etiology of Mass Mortality Situation in the Mediterranean Populations

“…Therefore, H. pinnae has been characterized as one of the major causative agents due to its presence in moribund and dead animals [ 9 , 11 ]. H. pinnae infection and haplosporidiosis continues to infect fan mussel populations in several Mediterranean marine areas (e.g., the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea, Aegean Sea, Tunisia, and Cyprus) [ 4 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], resulting in mass mortalities of these species [ 9 , 11 , 17 ]. Except for H. pinnae , Mycobacterium sp.…”

Recruitment Disruption and the Role of Unaffected Populations for Potential Recovery After the Pinna nobilis Mass Mortality Event

“…The implications of the presence of different pathogens in the development of the disease has still to be clarified. Most known and studied P. nobilis populations in the Western Mediterranean Sea have almost completely disappeared, with mortality rates exceeding 90% (Vázquez-Luis et al, 2017;Panarese et al, 2019;García-March et al, 2020) and populations in the Eastern Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea are suffering the same fate (Katsanevakis et al, 2019;Kersting et al, 2019;Cižmek et al, 2020;Öndes et al, 2020;Özalp and Kersting, 2020). There is the exception, however, of several sites with very specific environmental settings where P. nobilis populations remain unaffected to date: Fangar Bay (Delta del Ebro, Spain), Mar Menor (Spain), Rhône Delta (France), Etang de Thau (France), Diana and Urbino pools (Corsica, France), Venice lagoon (Italy), inner Kalloni Gulf (Greece) (Catanese et al, 2018;Cabanellas-Reboredo et al, 2019;Kersting et al, 2019;Simide et al, 2019;Prado et al, 2019;Foulquie et al, 2020;Zotou et al, 2020).…”