''Cerastoderma glaucum'', the lagoon cockle, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

of saltwater

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...

, a marine

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, biva ...

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 estim ...

in the family

Cardiidae A cockle is an edible marine bivalve mollusc. Although many small edible bivalves are loosely called cockles, true cockles are species in the family Cardiidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2022). MolluscaBase. Cardiidae Lamarck, 1809. Accessed through: W ...

, the cockles. This species is found along the coasts of Europe and North Africa, including the

Mediterranean 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 Black Seas and the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asi ...

, and the low-salinity

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. It is a

euryhaline Euryhaline organisms are able to adapt to a wide range of salinities. An example of a euryhaline fish is the molly (''Poecilia sphenops'') which can live in fresh water, brackish water, or salt water. The green crab (''Carcinus maenas'') is an e ...

species living in salinities 4-100

‰ Per mille (from Latin , "in each thousand") is an expression that means parts per thousand. Other recognised spellings include per mil, per mill, permil, permill, or permille. The associated sign is written , which looks like a percent sig ...

.Russell PJ, Petersen GH (1973) The use of ecological data in the elucidation of some shallow water European ''Cardium'' species. ''

Malacologia ''Malacologia'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of malacology, the study of mollusks. The journal publishes articles in the fields of molluscan systematics, ecology, population ecology, genetics, molecular genetics, evolution, an ...

'' 14:223–232Nikula R, Väinölä R (2003) Phylogeography of ''Cerastoderma glaucum'' (Bivalvia: Cardiidae) across Europe: A major break in the Eastern Mediterranean. ''

Marine Biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies ...

'' 143: 339-350 In north-west Europe (including the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

), it typically does not live on open shores but rather in shallow

burrow An Eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of locomotion. Burrows provide a form of s ...

s in saline

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'' ...

s, or sometimes on lower shores in

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...

. It cannot tolerate significant exposure to the air. The form found in lagoons is thinner-shelled than the estuarine populations. Retrieved 29 July 2012. The lagoon cockle can grow to the length of 50 mm. In north-west Europe, it spawns in May–July, and the

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

ic larval phase takes 11–30 days. The life span of the settled cockle is typically 2–5 years. The species was described as ''Cardium glaucum'' in 1789 almost simultaneously both by Bruguière and by

Poiret Poiret is a French language surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jean Poiret, French author * Jean Louis Georges Poiret, former Lieutenant-Governor of Guinea * Jean Louis Marie Poiret, French clergyman, botanist, and explorer * Jeann ...

''Cerastoderma glaucum''
Right and left valve of the same specimen: File:Cerastoderma glaucum 01.jpg, Right valve File:Cerastoderma glaucum 02.jpg, Left valve

''Cerastoderma glaucum lamarcki''
Right and left valve of the same specimen: File:Cerastoderma glaucum lamarcki 01.jpg, Right valve File:Cerastoderma glaucum lamarcki 02.jpg, Left valve

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2550416 Cardiidae Molluscs of the Atlantic Ocean Molluscs of the Mediterranean Sea Molluscs of the Black Sea Marine molluscs of Europe Molluscs of Europe Marine molluscs of Africa Marine molluscs of Asia Bivalves of Asia Bivalves described in 1789