B. Proponents

Lithophaga lithophaga is an endolithic mussel from the family Mitilidae, which inhabits limestone rocks. This species needs specific substrate for its growth and owing to its particular biology (slow growing) it is not suitable for commercial breeding. L. lithophaga has a very distinctive and well known date-like appearance. L. lithophaga is distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea. In the Atlantic Ocean it can be found on the Portugal coast and on the North African coast down to Senegal. It also inhabits the northern coast of Angola. The sole purpose of L. lithophaga exploitation is human consumption. It is known that the harvesting of the species from the wild for international trade has detrimental impact on the species. The collection of L. lithophaga for the purpose of trade poses a direct threat to this species due to the loss of its habitat. When L. lithophaga is harvested, the rocks it inhabits are broken into small pieces, often by very destructive methods such as pneumatic hammers and explosives. Broken rocks thus become unsuitable for colonisation by marine organisms. In addition to the direct threat to L. lithophaga, its collection reduces topographic heterogenity, macroalgal cover and epibiota. The destruction cause