January 29, 2019 - As soon as it recovered and began to settle down at the bottom of the Boka Bay, a protected endemic species, the largest Mediterranean shellfish Pinna Nobilis, is still in jeopardy.
This beautiful shell attacked a parasite and threatened its population in France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, and Malta. Still, it has not yet arrived at the Adriatic, a scientist at the Institute for Marine Biology, Dr Vesna Macic, said Radio Jadran.
"I'm afraid that next year, probably, the parasite will come to the Adriatic. Somewhere in Spain it began spreading to a large number of locations, causing 100% mortality of Pinna Nobilis," she says.
Scientists in Europe, not even in our country, have no defense mechanism from this parasite for now, or to stop it from spreading to the Mediterranean.
"We are continually talking about the problem in the sea being much more accessible to stop than to treat because there are no limits and barriers. Since it is a microscopic organism, it is impossible to prevent it from spreading to other areas. The only thing scientists are trying to do is to have some aquariums in areas where this parasite has not yet appeared," she explains, adding that we still do not have the possibility.
It is just the idea right now because so far there has not been such a great seafloor of this kind of shellfish. Dr Macic points out that there are different types of parasites in the sea, activated in different ways, and most frequently triggered by pollution.
Hope lies in the fact that some parasites, as well as all kinds of species, have changes in growth, such as flu viruses. Suddenly they appear, so they disappear.
In the shallow of the Boka Bay, the population of Pinna Nobilis reaches up to 300 organisms on 100m²
This beautiful large shell, inhabited only the Mediterranean sea, did not live in Boka Bay for a while. At the Institute for Marine Biology in Kotor, they believe that the reasons for this are uncontrolled extraction, anchoring at its habitat, seabed pollution.
"Extreme growth of the population occurred for 4-5 years ago, so now we have a broad representation of Pinna Nobilis in the shallow on a small surface. Over 200-300 units per 100m², which is exceptionally full," she says.
A similar situation has also occurred in Italy, so scientists believe that the cause is a kind of stress through which the shells pass. The organisms are under high pressure trying to leave bigger offspring so that as many individuals survive unfavorable conditions, explains Dr Macic. However, this is just one of the theories.
Hope remains that the expansion of the parasite that will destroy Pinna Nobilis across the Mediterranean will reduce before it reaches our sea.
Source; Radio Jadran
