Nobel Pen Shell Sanctuary
2016 marked the beginning of one of the heaviest and most disastrous periods in the history of noble pen shell existence. A newly discovered parasite, Haplosporidium pinnae, in synergy with the bacterium, Mycobacterium sherrisii, killed noble pen shell populations on Spanish Balearic. By 2020, these pathogens uncontrollably dispersed throughout the Mediterranean and infected almost all individuals in the wild. Nowadays, we count only a few dozen live pen shells in salty lagoons in France, Spain and Turkey.