Species and Habitat Outlines

Cockle
TAXONOMY

Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Veneroida
Family: Cardiidae

 

ECOLOGICAL DATA

Distribution: scattered on tide flats along coast, but not abundant in any one location.

Habitat: soft, sand-mud substrates of tide flats; abundant in eelgrass beds; associated with butter and littleneck clams; shallow burrow or may occur on surface; moves horizontally across beach, does not remain in same burrow;

Tidal elevation: high intertidal to 30 m subtidal depth; most common in intertidal or shallow subtidal.

Food: suspension feeder; phytoplankton and detritus.

Predators: sea stars, crabs, flatfish and birds; easy prey since they occur on surface of tide flats.

GROWTH RATE

Moderately rapid growth; 60 mm in 3 yr; sexually mature at 2 yr.

FISHERY

Incidental commercial catch but important in Native fishery; does not occur in large enough numbers to support commercial fishery; sewage pollution and paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) have closed large areas of coast to harvesting.

 

REFERENCES

Bernard, F.R. 1983. Catalogue of the living bivalvia of the eastern Pacific Ocean: Bering Strait to Cape Horn. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 61: 39.

Bourne, N. 1986. Intertidal clams, p. 22-31. In G.S. Jamieson and K. Francis [ed.] Invertebrate and marine plant resources of British Columbia. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 91.

Gallucci, V.F., and B.B. Gallucci. 1982. Reproduction and ecology of the hermaphroditic cockle Clinocardium nuttallii (Bivalvia: Cardiidae) in Garrison Bay. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 7: 137-145.

Jamieson, G.S. 1986. Paralytic shellfish poisoning, p. 44-46. In G.S. Jamieson and K. Francis [ed.] Invertebrate and marine plant resources of British Columbia. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 91.

Kozloff, E.N. 1983. Seashore life of the northern Pacific coast. Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver: 290.

Quayle, D.B. 1978. The intertidal bivalves of British Columbia. B.C. Prov. Mus. Handb. 17: 54-55.

Quayle, D.B., and N. Bourne. 1972. The clam fisheries of British Columbia. Fish. Res. Board Can. Bull. 179: 56-58.

Ricketts, E.F., J. Calvin, and J.W. Hedgpeth. 1985. Between Pacific tides. 5th ed. Stanford Univ. Press, Stanford, Calif.: 332-334.

 

For more information about cockle habitat utilization and life cycle - click here

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