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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 fungi, microorganisms including some b ...
clam-like species of marine mollusc 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 ...
. 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 a ...
. 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 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