Southern Coast Of Baltic Sea Research Articles

New record of Rangia cuneata (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Mactridae) on southern coast of Baltic Sea (N Poland)

In February 2021 a valve of Rangia cuneata – a clam native to North America, was found in a new location on the Polish coast in Ustka Bay. After first records of this clam in Europe in 2005 in Belgium and then in 2010 in the Baltic Sea (Russian part of the Vistula Lagoon), an increasing number of new observations have been reported since. This indicates an effective dispersal of this alien species in the Baltic waters.

Anisakids of seals found on the southern coast of Baltic Sea

In the present study 5 grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), 3 common seals (Phoca vitulina) and 1 ringed seal (Pusa hispida) bycaught or stranded on the Polish Baltic Sea coast in years 2000-2006 were investigated for the infestation of parasitic anisakid nematodes. 749 of anisakids were found. The most common were: Contracaecum osculatum (59.3%) and Pseudoterranova decipiens (31.0%). There were also small numbers of Anisakis simplex (0.8%). After performing RFLP three sibling species were found. C. osculatum was identified as C. osculatum C, P decipiens was identified as P. decipiens sensu stricto and A. simplex - A. simplex sensu stricto. Nematodes found in seals were mostly in L4 and adult life stage - both of them were equal with some minor variations among the specimens. Sex ratio was also equal, but there was slight excess of males in some cases. There was a minority of L3 larvae belonging to A. simplex species (0.8%).