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''Pholas dactylus'', or common piddock, is a
Pholas dactylus Linnaeus, 1758
Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2012-02-23
It is sensitive to light, retracting into its shell when exposed to it.
Author: Hippolytus of Rome, ''Refutation of All Heresies'' Book IV, Chapter XXXI.
bioluminescent
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some Fungus, fungi, microorganisms including ...
clam-like species of marine mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...
found on the coasts of the North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...
and the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. It bores into gneiss
Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...
. It was once a highly esteemed food in Europe.Gofas, S. (2012)Pholas dactylus Linnaeus, 1758
Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2012-02-23
It is sensitive to light, retracting into its shell when exposed to it.
Ancient history
Pliny
Pliny may refer to:
People
* Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'')
* Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...
spoke of luminescence in the mouths of people who ate ''Pholas'', the rock-boring shell-fish, and of such importance is this phenomenon that it is even said to have gained the first king of Scotland his throne. Hippolytus of Rome tells us that it was a common pagan trick to use the luminescent property of this clam to create the illusion of burning, "And they accomplish the burning of a house, by daubing it over with the juice of a certain fish called dactylus."Author: Hippolytus of Rome, ''Refutation of All Heresies'' Book IV, Chapter XXXI.
References