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Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics

UvA student found the first Pacific barnacles in the Wadden Sea

17 September 2025

Uva student has found the Pacific barnacle Balanus glandula in the Wadden Sea for the first time. Until now, this species was only known to exist in European waters in Belgium and on the south coast of the Western Scheldt. It probably travels in the ballast water tanks of large ships and as fouling on ship hulls.

Master's student in Freshwater and Marine Biology Rosalinde van Ooijen from the University of Amsterdam did her Master's research at NIOZ and spent last spring searching for barnacles and their parasites in the Dutch and German Wadden Sea. ‘Research assistant Loran Kleine Schaars advised me to keep an eye out for the Pacific barnacle Balanus glandula. Its numbers have been increasing significantly for decades in countries such as Japan and South Africa, and since 2015 we know that it also occurs in Belgium and Zeeland.’

See Student found the first Pacific barnacles in the Wadden Sea - NIOZ