For the first time in history, due to the rapid warming of the Mediterranean Sea, pearl oysters appeared in it, and Italian farmers want to take advantage of this for the industrial production of pearls.
About such an unexpected effect of global warming tells The Independent.
The first specimens of the pearl oyster (in Latin – Pinctada radiata), whose habitual habitat is the Red Sea, were noticed in the Bay of Poets on the northwestern coast of Italy at the end of 2023. The waters of the Mediterranean Sea here are one of the coldest and are associated with those types of mollusks that are used for food, and not for making jewelry.
Pearl importer Adriano Genisi with more than 30 years of experience says that Pinctada radiata can form pearls similar to the famous Japanese pearls "Akoya." They have a diameter of 5-9 mm and a white color with shades of gray, pink and green. Genisi is sure that if everything goes well, then the first pearls can be collected in about a year.
The Independent pointed out that Pinctada radiata is the latest in a series of alien warm-water organisms that are starting to populate the Mediterranean Sea, which is getting warmer due to global warming.
At the same time, a scientist from the Italian Institute for Research and Environmental Protection ISPRA, Manuela Falautano, noted that the rate of increase in the temperature of the water space between Southern Europe, Africa and the Middle East is greater than the average value for the world's seas.
The other day, EсoPolitic told that Europe went under water en masse due to climate change. We also published list of UNESCO monuments, which may disappear due to global warming.
