Pinna nobilis
species of mollusc
Pinna nobilis, known by the common names noble pen shell and fan mussel, is a large species of Mediterranean clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pinnidae, the pen shells.
It reaches up to 120 cm (4 ft) of shell length. It produces a rare manganese-containing porphyrin protein known as pinnaglobin.
Description
The bivalve shell is usually 30–50 cm (12–20 in) long, but can reach 120 cm (4 ft). Its shape differs depending on the region it inhabits. Like all pen shells, it is relatively fragile to pollution and shell damage. It attaches itself to rocks using a strong byssus composed of many silk-like threads which used to be made into cloth. The animal secretes these fibres from its byssus gland; they consist of keratin and other proteins and may be as long as 6 cm (2+1⁄2 in). The inside of the shell is lined with brilliant mother-of-pearl.
As with other members of its genus, Pinna nobilis hosts symbiotic crustaceans which live inside its shell; in this case it is the shrimp Pontonia pinnophylax and the pea crab Nepinnotheres pinnotheres.
The public source identifies “Pinna nobilis” as species of mollusc. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Pinna, nobilis and species.
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Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q536444. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pinna nobilis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.