Molluscan shells on Ikarashi beach, Niigata, Japan

It has been suggested that beachcombing for biological material is a simple, powerful approach to understanding shallow marine ecosystems. Because of the lack of information on the molluscan shells that have washed up along the beach of the Sea of Japan, we presented a list of molluscan species collected from Ikarashi beach, Niigata, Japan. Using the molluscan shells collected between 2014 and 2023, a total of 123 species were identified: 40 gastropods, 3 cephalopods, 2 scaphopods and 78 bivalves at the species level. Several freshwater species are believed to have been possibly transported via the nearby Shin-kawa River. Holoplanktonic and nektobenthic species originally inhabited temperate sea, suggesting drift along the Tsushima Warm Current. Because benthic animals have changed their distribution in the Sea of Japan, episodic reports of molluscan fauna washing up on beaches could help to understand the environmental changes associated with the seawater temperature. ; departmental bulletin paper