Biodiversity & Conservation

General Information

Lagoon cockle - Cerastoderma glaucum - General information

Image Dennis R. Seaward - Three Cerastoderma glaucum with siphons extended. Image width ca XX cm.
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Cerastoderma glaucum recorded () and expected () distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

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Cerastoderma glaucum is not listed under any importance categories.

General information

Researched by:	Nicola White	Refereed by:	Dr Richard S.K. Barnes

Taxonomy

Phylum	Mollusca	Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class	Bivalvia	Clams, cockles, mussels, oysters, and scallops

Recorded distribution in Britain and Ireland	Orkney, Firth of Forth, East Anglia, Deben & Orwell estuaries, south coast of England, south Wales, the west coast of Scotland, and south and west coasts of Ireland.
Habitat information	The species is found submerged in saline lagoons or more rarely on the low shore of estuaries. Adults usually burrow shallowly in soft sediments. The failure of the species to colonize the higher shore is believed to be due to an inability to tolerate aerial exposure and it's consequent conditions. The species' distribution is believed to be restricted by the damaging effect of wave action on the newly settled spat.
Description	The cockle, Cerastoderma glaucum is a filter feeding bivalve which burrows shallowly in soft sediments. The species exists in two forms, a typical thin-shelled variety found in brackish lagoon habitats and a thicker shelled variety occurring in estuaries. It is widely distributed in north-west Europe.

This review can be cited as follows:

Nicola White 2002. Cerastoderma glaucum. Lagoon cockle. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 22/05/2013]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesfullreview.php?speciesID=2925>

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Cerastoderma glaucum

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Lagoon cockle

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Cerastoderma glaucum

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