First record of Xandarovula patula (Pennant, 1777) in the Dutch North Sea (Gastropoda, Ovulidae)

The ovulid gastropod Xandarovula patula (Pennant, 1777) was found 14.vi.2011 on the soft coral Alcyonium digitatum Linnaeus, 1758 (Dead man’s fingers) during a dive in the central North Sea on the wreck ‘Jeanette Kristina’ on the Dutch Dogger Bank. Later on additional specimens were found, sometimes with egg-capsules, on A. digitatum again, at two locations on the Dutch Cleaver Bank. The species has previously been recorded from the Atlantic coast of southern Spain to the western end of The English Channel, with scattered records from the west coasts of Ireland and Britain, as far north as the Orkney’s. More recently it has been reported from most Irish coasts, several parts of the Scottish coast and also from some places in the North Sea.We here present the first record of X. patula for the Dutch part of the continental shelf. The specimens and their egg-capsules from both the Dogger Bank and Cleaver Bank, indicate that this species is autochthonous in the central North Sea.