Protected species on the Vlakte van de Raan
|
 |
 |
|
The Vlakte van de Raan has been designated as a special protection zone for the following seven animal species:
 |
Harbour porpoise
(Phocoena phocoena) – H1351
The harbour porpoise is the smallest cetacean or member of the whale family in the North Sea. It can also be found in the fresh or brackish water of bays and the mouths of rivers. There are estimated to be between 300,000 and 450,000 harbour porpoises in the North Sea.
Read more
|
 |
Grey seal
(Halichoerus grypus) – H1364
There are estimated to be something like 1700 grey seals in the North Sea. During the breeding and moulting periods (December to March) they are often to be seen on the sandflats in the Wadden Sea.
Read more
|
 |
Harbour seal
(Phoca vitulina) – H1365
There are estimated to be some 6,000 harbour seals in the North Sea and Wadden Sea.
Read more
|
 |
River lamprey
(Lampetra fluviatilis) – H1099
When adult, the river lamprey is 30 cm to 50 cm long. Like the sea lamprey it has a sucker for a mouth, a tooth-lined disc-shaped sucker that forms the end of its body. The area of distribution of the river lamprey is relatively small and is limited to western Europe, the Baltic Sea and a small part of the Mediterranean Sea.
Read more
|
 |
Sea lamprey
(Petromyzon marinus) – H1095
The sea lamprey looks somewhat like an eel, but the rear end of the body is somewhat compressed laterally. The sea lamprey has a tooth-lined disc-shaped sucker for a mouth and no jaws. The sea lamprey can grow to be 1 m long.
Read more
|
 |
Allis shad (Alosa alosa) – H1102
The allis shad is ‘anadromous’. This means it spends its life for the most part in salt water but migrates upriver to spawn. Its migration period is May and June. Once fully grown, the allis shad is slightly larger than the twaite shad (Alosa fallax), which it strongly resembles.
Read more
|
 |
Twaite shad
(Alosa fallax) – H1103
The shad that occurs in the Netherlands is the subspecies known as Alosa fallax. The Netherlands lies at the heart of the area of distribution of this fish. The colouring is characteristic of this fish: its head is golden brown, its back is bluey grey, it has a silvery white underside and (often) a row of dark flecks on its sides.
Read more
|
|
