Cerastoderma edule

The common cockle is a species of edible saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Cardiidae, the cockles. It is found in waters off Europe, from Iceland in the north, south into waters off western Africa as far south as Senegal. The ribbed oval shells can reach 6 centimetres (2.4 in) across and are white, yellowish or brown in colour. The common cockle is harvested commercially and eaten in much of its range.

Cerastoderma edule

Féron Benjamin · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
CerastodermaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Cardiidae
Life habit
infaunalPBDB, for Cardiidae
Motility
facultatively mobilePBDB, for Cardiidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 20.45 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 8 of 59 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 11 of 59 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 36 of 59 occurrencesPleistocene21–20 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–17 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.8–9.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.1–8.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.4–7.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.7–7.0 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.0–6.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences6.3–5.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.6–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.2–3.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.5–2.8 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.8–2.1 Mya — about 7 occurrences2.1–1.4 Mya — about 8 occurrences1.4–698 ka Mya — about 8 occurrences698 ka–0 Mya — about 18 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka20.9 Mya0 Mya

59 occurrences of Cerastoderma edule on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

59 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

14 formations

Norwich Crag — 52.58°N, 1.38°ELillo — 51.25°N, 4.28°EWeybourne Crag — 52.90°N, 1.37°EKoronia — 35.08°N, 33.17°EKoronia — 35.03°N, 33.15°EMammaliferous Crag — 52.63°N, 1.35°WGavdos — 34.83°N, 24.08°EApostoli — 35.25°N, 24.58°EKourtes — 35.20°N, 25.10°EFels — 48.51°N, 15.74°ERed Crag — 51.97°N, 1.35°EChillesford Clay — 52.58°N, 1.38°ECoralline Crag — 52.03°N, 1.38°ECapo San Marco — 39.90°N, 8.43°EWexford Gravels — 52.43°N, 6.33°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cerastoderma edule has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 31 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cerastoderma edule and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cerastoderma edule and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

683 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 32 sites for Cerastoderma edule, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

23 references

Each of the 59 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 11 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Cerastoderma edule

Credit
Féron Benjamin
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Cerastoderma edule · fmnh:invertebrate zoology:325893

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCerastoderma through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)