A CRITICALLY endangered species, the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis), has been discovered in the municipal waters of Cebu City.
The Cebu City Reef Rehabilitation Initiative in a Facebook post on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, said that marine biologists from Cebu City’s Bantay Dagat and Cebu Technological University (CTU) main campus, and volunteers from the Knight-Stewards of the Sea, Inc., recently confirmed the presence of a critically endangered mollusk species in Cebu City’s waters.
The discovery was made during an exploratory dive on Aug. 22, and marine biologists Joed Caballero from CTU and Jhon Ismael Fernandez from Bantay Dagat presented their findings to the Cebu City Bantay Dagat Commission on Oct.11.
On Oct.12, the Bantay Dagat Commission conducted a comprehensive biodiversity assessment to determine the population density of mussels in the area, said BDC executive director Ed Karlon.
“Dili pa mi makahatag (og findings) kay naa man gud na siya’y methodology (We cannot yet give our findings because we are following a methodology),” he told SunStar Cebu in a phone interview on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
“Nalipay lang mi nga nabuhi siya dire unya we are now guided kay naa may critically endangered diha. The presence of Pinna nobilis guides us or warns us kung unsay angay buhaton,” he added.
(We are happy because we are now guided that there are critically endangered species in our seawater. The presence of Pinna nobilis guides us or warns us on what to do.)
Rama said the noble pen shell found in Cebu City’s waters is not poisonous, according to marine biologists.
Noble pen shells, typically native to the Mediterranean Sea, were listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on Oct. 18, 2019, according to the IUCN website.
“The noble pen shell’s inclusion in the IUCN Red List aims to raise awareness, inform conservation efforts, and guide national and international policies for the species’ protection and recovery,” reads a portion of the Cebu City Reef Rehabilitation Initiative post.
The Commission, however, said it remains unclear how a species native to the Mediterranean Sea appeared in Cebu City’s waters.
In 2020, the Cebu City Government funded a study titled “Marine Biodiversity Assessment in Cebu City Reef” to evaluate the reef’s biodiversity.
The study revealed that the coral cover is in “fair condition,” with siltation—primarily caused by construction at the South Road Properties—being the main issue.
During a dive by the BDC on Aug. 22, mother-of-pearl oysters, locally known as “tipay,” were also discovered growing in the Cebu City reef. / CDF