Common cockle  (Cerastoderma edule)

The common cockle is a suspension feeder, filtering plankton and other organic matter from the water (3). The sexes are separate, and adults typically begin to spawn in their second summer. Fertilisation is external, and a large percentage of a population spawns at the same time. Eggs and sperm are released into the water; the free-swimming larvae (veliger larvae) live for 3-6 weeks in the plankton before undergoing metamorphosis into juvenile cockles, which then settle to the substrate.

Growth rates vary with the season; in winter there is very little growth, and this leads to the marked growth-bands on the shell, which have been used to age cockles (2). The typical life-span of this cockle is 2-4 years, although they may live for 9 years or more (3). Cockles are predated upon by oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus), the shore crab (Carcinus maenas), shrimps and flatfish (2).