Knitted glove made of sea silk, from Taranto, Italy, probably from the late 19th centuryPinna nobilis shell and byssusThe extreme fineness of the byssus thread
Sea silk is an extremely fine, rare, and valuable fabric that is made from the long silky filaments or byssus secreted by a gland in the foot of pen shells (in particular Pinna nobilis).[1] The byssus is used by the clam to attach itself to the sea bed.[2]
Sea silk was produced in the Mediterranean region from the large marine bivalve mollusc Pinna nobilis until early in the 20th century. The animal, whose shell is sometimes almost a metre long, adheres itself pointed end down to rocks in the intertidal zone using a tuft of very strong thin fibres. These byssi or filaments (which can be six centimetres long) are spun and, when treated with lemon juice, turn a golden colour, which never fades.[3]
The cloth produced from these filaments can be woven even more finely than silk, and is extremely light and warm; it was said that a pair of women's gloves made from the fabric could fit into half a walnut shell and a pair of stockings in a snuffbox.[4][note 1] The cloth attracts clothes moths, the larvae of which will eat it.
Pinna nobilis is also sometimes gathered for its edible flesh and occasional pearls of fair quality.
^"The Last Surviving Sea Silk Seamstress". BBC. 6 September 2017.
^Webster's (Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) ed.). G. & C. Merriam Co. 1976. p. 307.
^"Chiara Vigo: The Last Woman Who Makes Sea Silk". BBC. 2 September 2015.
^Oxford English Dictionary (1971), under Byssus.
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