''Acanthocardia tuberculata'', the rough cockle, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of saltwater clam, a cockle, a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the family Cardiidae. The genus '' Acanthocardia'' is present from the Upper

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the ...

to the Recent.

Description

The shell of ''Acanthocardia tuberculata'' can reach a size of about 95 mm. This shell is robust, equivalve, inflated and slightly inequilateral, with crenulated margins. The surface shows 18-20 strong radial ribs, with rows of spiny nodules. The basic coloration is usually pale brown with alternating darker concentric bands.

Right and left valve of the same specimen: File:Acanthocardia tuberculata 01.jpg, Right valve File:Acanthocardia tuberculata 02.jpg, Left valve

Distribution and habitat

''Acanthocardia tuberculata'' can be found in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and in the Northeast

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. This species is present in the continental shelf from low tide to 200 m. Like most other bivalves, these mollusks are suspension feeders filtering phytoplankton.

Subspecies

* ''Acanthocardia tuberculata citrinum'' Brusina, 1865 * ''Acanthocardia tuberculata tuberculata'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Acanthocardia tuberculata f. alba''

Gallery

File:Natural History - Mollusca - Cockle leaping.png, Illustration of ''Acanthocardia tuberculata'' from Natural History: Mollusca (1854), p. 271 File:Bivalvia - Acantocardia tuberculata.JPG, Fossil of ''Anthocardia tuberculata'',

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a ''comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed t ...

(

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

)

References

* Repetto G., Orlando F. & Arduino G. (2005): Conchiglie del Mediterraneo, Amici del Museo "Federico Eusebio", Alba, Italy
Biolib

Encyclopedia of life

World Register of Marine Species.

Marine Species Identification

Marine bivalve shells of the British Isles
Cardiidae Bivalves described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cardiidae-stub