North American East Coast fish finds new home in Dutch waters

Atlantic Croaker renamed ‘knorrepos’

LAUWERSOOG, the Netherlands - Recent sightings in the Frisian Sea and the North Sea Canal of a fish normally found in the U.S.’ and Canadian East Coast waters, have prompted researchers to come up with a Dutch name for the Atlantic Croaker.

The fish was named ‘knorrepos’ because it resembles a bass-like ruffe (‘pos’ in Dutch), while it makes a rumbling sound (in Dutch ‘knorren’), which is characteristic of most croaker species.

Although the American Croaker had been seen off the Belgian coast in recent years, the sightings in the Netherlands are new. The first ever croaker caught off the Dutch coast was kept for months in an aquarium at Lauwersoog. More recently, young croakers were caught in nets at the America Port, at the entrance to the North Sea Canal at IJmuiden.