January
05
/ 2021
Byssus is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric of animal origin. It is a sort of natural silk with golden and sparkling reflections that is obtained from the filaments secreted by a large marine bivalve mollusk known as a “noble pen shell” or “fan mussel” - Pinna nobilis. Its processing has been developed exclusively in the Mediterranean area since ancient times. Pinna nobilis is an endemic species of the Mediterranean and is the largest bivalve present in that sea; the shell is usually 30–50 cm (0.98–1.6 ft.) long, but it can reach 120 cm (3.93 ft). It lives about 20 years and theoretically, like other mollusks, is also edible. In the past it was also used for its marked
