Cockle

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Cockle

Live specimens from France

Scientific classification Kingdom: Phylum: Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Animalia Mollusca Bivalvia Veneroida Cardioidea Cardiidae
Lamarck, 1809

Empty cockle shell on the beach

Mural of Victorian cockle pickers. In the 2004 Morecambe Bay disaster, at least 21 immigrant Chinese cockle pickers were drowned by an incoming tide off the Lancashire/Cumbrian coast. Cockles are a group of (mostly) small, edible, saltwater clams. They are marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae. They are very common on sandy sheltered beaches throughout the world. The distinctive rounded shells of cockles are symmetrical, and are heart-shaped when viewed from the end. In most genera there are numerous radial ribs (ridges on the shell). The genus Laevicardium, the egg cockles, have very smooth shells. The mantle has three openings (inhalant, exhalant, and pedal) for siphoning water and for the foot to stick out. Cockles are capable of 'jumping' by bending and straightening the foot. Cockles burrow using the foot, and feed by filtering plankton from the surrounding water. Some species reach maturity quickly.[1] Confusingly, the common name "cockle" is also given (by seafood sellers) to a number of other small edible bivalves which have a somewhat similar shape, however these bivalves are in other families such as the Veneridae (Venus clams) and the Arcidae (ark clams). Cockles in the family Cardiidae are sometimes known as "true cockles" in order to distinguish them from these other species.

[change] References
1. European cockle [1]

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Cockle harvesting in Penang

KUALA JURU is one of the most productive mudflats for cockle farming in Peninsular Malaysia. It has been a major income source for the fishermen in the area since the 1970s, when other fishing activities were adversely affected by pollution from the manufacturing and electronic industries surrounding the village. The villagers on their own initiative decided to turn to farming cockles, which are more resistant than fish to chemical pollution. They have been doing this on a collective basis since July 1976 (ILO, 1986). Besides thriving easily and needing little or no maintenance, cockles are also cheap and they can provide a rich source of nutrients. (Yap and Tan, 2008) The harvesting and cleaning process of the cockles runs like an assembly line with every component critical in order to reap the best. The boats go out daily to the concession area and collect cockles during the high tide period As the boat slowly moves in a clockwise direction, the gatherer stands at the boat's starboard side and dredges the mud bottom with a cockle collector attached to a long pole. Every now and then, he lifts the dredge from the bottom, shakes it in the water to wash off the mud, pours the caught cockles onto the deck and then resumes dredging the bottom. (Food and Agriculture Organization). At the landing site, the cockles are then put into rotation machines that have water constantly sprayed into it in order to filter out sediment and mud. Towards the end of the process, these cleaned cockles would be packed in large nylon sacks to be distributed to the local markets. View gallery below for slideshow of the process. Unfortunately, even though the cockles are a resistant bunch, as much as 60 per cent of cockles harvested out from the coastal area off Kuala Sungai Juru are dead cockles due to water contamination and pollution compared to only 5 per cent dead cockles during the previous good times. (Sungai Juru) References

Yap, C.K & Tan, S.G, Heavy metal pollution in the Juru River basin receiving industrial effluents: the need for biochemical and molecular studies in the edible cockles anadara granosa, Malaysian Applied Biology, 2008, Vol 32, Issue 2, pp 63-68 Cockle culture in Kuala Juru, Penang, Malaysia (Small-scale aquaculture operations in the asean countries, Food and Agriculture Organization) The Pollution of Sungai Juru; its pollutants and effects (Sungai Juru, 07.11.09) Related links

Exploring into the heart of Kuala Juru fishing village (Criz Bon, 07.03.09) Click through pictures for slideshow.

cockle
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | Copyright cockle common name applied to the heart-shaped, jumping or leaping marine bivalve mollusks, belonging to the order Eulamellibranchia. The brittle shells are of uniform size, are obliquely spherical, and possess distinct radiating ridges, or ribs, which aid the animal in gripping the sand. The mantle has three distinct apertures (inhalant, exhalant, and pedal) through which the inhalant and exhalant siphons and the foot protrude. The cockle lives in sand and mud in shallow water, often in brackish inlets. It burrows until only the siphons project, pulling in water from which the animal strains the minute planktonic organisms on which it feeds. All cockles are hermaphroditic. In order to accomplish the characteristic jumping form of forward locomotion, the large, powerful, muscular foot is bent backward beneath the shell and then straightened. In most adults, the foot is about as long as the greatest length of the shell. Several species of cockles are considered to be good, edible clams. In the British Isles, great numbers of cockles are taken annually for food from densely populated beds. These beds have been known to migrate in units, probably in response to changes in currents. Protothaca staminea, the rock cockle, is

among the best known and most widely used for food. It usually does not exceed 3 in. (7.5 cm) in length. Rock cockles are poor diggers and inhabit packed mud, or gravel mixed with sand, usually 8 in. (20 cm) below the surface. They are found on the Pacific Coast near the rocky shores of bays and estuaries. Those inhabiting the open coast during the summer months should not be eaten because they may be infected with toxin-producing organisms. P. semidecussata, the Japanese littleneck clam, is smaller but considered to be better-flavored than the rock cockle. The shell is more elongated, with a brownish to bluish banding on one end. It inhabits an environment similar to that of P. staminea and is widespread in Puget Sound, Wash.; British Columbia; and San Francisco and Tomales Bay, Calif. Unlike the genus Protothaca, the basket cockles ( Clinocardium nuttalli, or Cardium corbis ) are good diggers and have a large foot. Lacking siphon tubes, basket cockles burrow only slightly beneath the surface and inhabit sand flats, particularly along the Pacific Coast. They are considered good eating clams but are too few in number to be widely marketed. They are most abundant in British Columbia and in Puget Sound, Wash., with fewer found south as far as Baja California and north as far as the Bering Sea. The hard shell cockles, genus Chione, are found from San Pedro, Calif., S into Mexico. The giant Atlantic cockle, Dinocardium robustum ( Cardium magnum ), reaches 5 in. (12.5 cm) in diameter and is found along the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Brazil. It has shells with toothed margins, strikingly colored in yellowish brown with spots and transverse stripes of chestnut or purple. Cockles are classified in the phylum Mollusca , class Pelecypoda or bivalvia, order Eulamellibranchia.

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"cockle." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 09, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-cockle.html