Recent observations of Pinna nobilis in the Mar Piccolo basin (Gulf of Taranto, Mediterranean Sea)

In December 2014, a first census of the population of the bivalve Pinna nobilis was carried out in Mar Piccolo of Taranto, to document the new status in this enclosed sea of this mollusc that until the 60s represented an important resource, heavily exploited by local fishermen. During the last decades this species, listed as endangered and protected under the directive 92/43/EEC, became rare until its almost complete disappearance. Recently, due to the improvement of the environmental conditions linked to the closure of many urban discharges, some species reflourished in this basin, among them P. nobilis and the seagrass Cymodocea nodosa. A high density of live specimens of P. nobilis was registered, compared to other sites in the Mediterranean, and this, together with the low number of deads, could lead to hypothesize the presence of a stable population with a high grade of recruitment