“Good news everyone”, the natives have returned: Assemblages of European flat oysters make a reappearance in Belfast Lough after a century of absence.
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DOI
Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland like most estuarine systems in the UK and Europe once supported a prolific Ostrea edulis fishery. However, the oyster was considered locally extinct from the Lough by the early 1900s. Numerous ecological surveys of the over the next 100 years failed to document one living specimen. Recently, unsubstantiated sightings of solitary O. edulis along the Loughs intertidal were conveyed to the author. It was considered necessary to investigate these reports and as a result the presence of small assemblages of European flat native oysters was confirmed. Hypotheses as to why the oysters have returned unaided are discussed with the aim to investigate these at depth in the future.
Keywords
- European flat oyster, Re-established, Unassisted native oyster recovery
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 101585 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Regional Studies in Marine Science |
| Volume | 41 |
| Early online date | 9 Dec 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 31 Jan 2021 |