Mooie vondsten na de storm van 13 januari 2017 en reflecties op veranderingen in de kustfauna van Zuid-Holland

On the 13th of January 2017 a storm from the northwest washed ashore much of the shallow water bottom fauna living along the coast of Zuid-Holland. Especially the huge numbers of Lutraria lutraria and starfish were impressive, but more exceptional were finds of tens of living specimens of Acanthocardia echinata, Spisula solida and Euspira catena and also some Aequipecten opercularis and Laevicardium crassum – in largest numbers near Hoek van Holland, in the south of the area studied. Some observations are added on the large changes in the shallow water mollusc fauna of this area over the last 40 years. It appears that several new species have established themselves near the coast. It is not yet known if those populations are a temporary phenomenon or whether these will prove to be stable (as was the case with Lutraria lutraria and Tritia reticularis and with the invasive species Ensis leei). Over the same period previously common species like Cerastoderma edule, Ensis magnus and Ensis ensis have disappeared from the near coastal area; although the first of these latter species was found alive in an intertidal lagoon in the sand suppletion known as ‘de Zandmotor’.