fan shells of the family Pinnidae, are among the largest edible bivalves and occur in most parts of the world, in shallow water. They are shaped like a half-opened fan and live upright in the sand, with the pointed end out of sight and anchored by a byssus to a stone, and the other projecting into the water. The Mediterranean species, Pinna nobilis, may reach a length of 75 cm (nearly 30").
The byssus, given the size of the shell, has to be long and substantial and is capable of being woven into a golden fabric from which gloves and stockings used to be made at Taranto in S. Italy. The special apparatus called a pernonico, by which fishermen hauled up fan shells for this purpose, was described by an 18th-century author, Aufrère, in writing about his travels in the region of Naples; he is quoted at length by Lovell (1884). It is typical of this eccentric and erudite author that he should not only know of Aufrère’s work and quote it, thus preserving in perpetuity the full details of an unusual marine activity, but also add comments from sources such as the lost Roman parodist Matron which show that the fan mussel was greatly appreciated as food in classical times, besides being known as ‘the silkworm of the sea’.
