The Possible Failed Pre-Linnaean Introduction in the Mediterranean Sea: An Archival Case Study of the Brown Mussel Perna perna

Abstract

Most species arriving from a donor to a recipient area do not succeed in establishing long-lasting self-sustaining populations. However, successful introductions are far better documented than those that failed, especially those occurring before or near the advent of the Linnaean binomial nomenclature. We report here an introduction from the mid-18th century (possibly in 1750 or 1751) of an exotic mussel transported as fouling on ship hulls from the western coast of Morocco (Atlantic Ocean) to the port of Marseilles (Mediterranean Sea). The exotic mussel, which survived several years, has been identified as probably being the brown mussel, Perna perna, a species with warm-water affinities, which much later became invasive in several areas of the world ocean. The documents of the 18th and early 19th century, which mentioned the event, held ‘the curious’ and ‘amateurs’, who harvested the mussels, responsible for its extirpation. More realistically, it is hypothesised that the mussel population did not survive the return of severe cold weather conditions, after a few relatively mild decades, in the context of the Little Ice Age (LIA). These conclusions were deduced from historical data and are therefore open to discussion.