Fan Mussel, Pen Shell

Family Pinnidae

• Portuguese: Funil
• Spanish: Nacár
• French: Jambonneau
• German: Steckmuschel

REMARKS This, the largest British bivalve, may measure 35 cm in length (although a related species, P. nobilis, may be much larger). The shell is yellow-brown in colour. It lives in sand or mud, pointed end down, and attaches itself to its home by a silky byssus, from which an expensive kind of gold or cinnamon-coloured fabric used to be woven, notably at Tarentum. The nature and size of this byssus is indicated in the lower drawing, taken from Step (British Shells).