Nieuwe natuur: de bivalven fauna van het Klein Strand in Oostende en een tweede populatie van de Filipijnse tapijtschelp Ruditapes philippinarum

In this article the discovery of a second population of the Ruditapes philippinarum along the Belgian is described. The small population lives on the so called Klein Strand in Oostende, an artificially created beach – embayment. Co-occurring species include Cerastoderma edule, Ensis directus, Venerupis corrugata, Mya arenaria, Spisula subtruncata and Macoma balthica . Such an intertidal assemblage of species is not known elsewhere along the Belgian coast and is because of the particular sheltered condition of this small beach with a sediment of rather coarse sand with mud.