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If you find something interesting or mysterious at the North Sea beach, BeachExplorer is the right website for you! We offer determination support and inform about all kinds of beached objects - natural or man-made. We collect all records and make them available for scientific coastal research.

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Author(s) Rainer Borcherding
Licence owner Rainer Borcherding
Licence statement All copyrights remaun with the author
Licence cc-by-sa 3.0
Asian beauty

22. Jan: Unusually patterend shells...

22. Jan:Unusually patterend shells with zigzag lines or big dark blotches can recently be found on northern Waddensea beaches: the Manila clam. Around 2012 this bivalve from the Chinese Sea which is distributed worldwide by aquaculture has invaded the Waddensea. First adult specimen were found in 2016 in the vicinity of the Halligen in Northern Frisia. Amrum and Föhr followed in 2018, Sylt in 2021 and meanwhile Rømø in the north and the Elbe estuary in the south have been reached. What comes next? Alle records are very welcome. The species exhibits the fine line structure on the shell outside that is typical for all carpet shells. It is more stout and rounded than the indigenous Pullet carpet shell. The coloration is noticeably vaiable. Good luck with your search!
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School material
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Free education material on Wadden Sea and North Sea is being developed. Already available are work sheets and teacher's material for our „Strandforscher”-program for primary schools (in german only).

Marine protection
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Here you find background informations about biology and protection of Wadden Sea and North Sea.