Pyura chilensis, called piure in Spanish and piür or piwü in Mapudungun,[1] is a tunicate of the family Pyuridae.

[2] The earliest mention of the P. chilensis was in 1782 by Juan Ignacio Molina in his book Saggio Sulla Storia Naturale del Chili.

Many locals don wet suits and goggles to gather the delicacy, mostly in rocky areas close to shore, but occasionally farther out to sea.

Fishermen typically cut P. chilensis into slices with a handsaw, then use their fingers to pull out the siphons (which they refer to as tetas, or "tits") from the carapace, which is discarded.

[14] According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, vanadium can cause liver damage in high doses of 1.8 mg or more daily.

[citation needed] On Chiloé Island of Chile, women who consumed increased amounts of piure during pregnancy were purported to have had greater incidency of multiple births.