Acanthocardia echinata, the prickly cockle or European prickly cockle, is a species of saltwater clam, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Cardiidae. The genus Acanthocardia is present from the Upper Oligocene to the Recent. The prickly cockle was one of the many invertebrate species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name Cardium echinatum. The yellowish-brown shell is up to 75 mm in diameter, and is adorned by 18 to 22 spiny ridges. Its margin is crenulate and its inner surface is white, and also prominently grooved. The prickly cockle is found in the British Isles and northwestern Europe. It lives within a few centimetres of the sea bottom, at depths of 3 m or more. Dead shells are commonly washed up on the beach.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acanthocardia echinata has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens32
BINs3
Marker genes1
eDNA detections27
Countries7
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus25 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 99% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 7 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.59%
Haplotypes11
BIN1
Most divergent pair1.4%
EuropeOther
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI
The complete instruction manualAcanthocardia echinata carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size≈1 351 164 484 bp assembly estimate
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Acanthocardia echinata1.35 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelChromosome
Completeness91.7% BUSCO
07Deep time~5.76 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin5.76 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type16 267 records
Wild obs. + sensor7 064
Museum / vouchered6 061
Fossil35
Other3 107
Origin
Native11
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO20 352 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit3 721
200–1000 m twilight7
1–4 km midnight0
>4 km abyssal0
median 37.9 m · max 619 m · 3 728 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy77% within 1 km
≤100 m 4 250≤1 km 495≤10 km 1 398>10 km 59
6 202 georeferenced · 862 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor7 064
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy71% within 1 km
≤100 m 239≤1 km 299≤10 km 142>10 km 80
760 georeferenced · 5 301 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence6 061
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions21 of 58 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
CEFASlocation not on record
400
RWSlocation not on record
339
Stockholm, SE
247
Gothenburg, SE
186
NTNU-VMlocation not on record
173
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
114
Station Biologique de Roscoff (EDMO:521)location not on record
107
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
105
Frankfurt am Main
90
Bergen, NO
68
Institut Francais pour l'Etude de la Merlocation not on record
66
DASSHlocation not on record
62
730location not on record
55
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record
25
Brussels, BE
24
486location not on record
24
Cambridge, US
22
ICATMARlocation not on record
21
MZLUlocation not on record
20
PNHSlocation not on record
20
Biomorlocation not on record
17
ICM-CSIClocation not on record
14
Delaware Museum of Nature and Sciencelocation not on record
12
Barcelona, ES
8
Helsinki, FI
8
Paris, FR
7
630location not on record
5
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
5
WMR_IMARESlocation not on record
5
Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-Sur-Mer; Laboratoire d'Océanographie Biologiquelocation not on record
5
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
4
Deutsches Zentrum fuer Marine Biodiversitaetsforschunglocation not on record
4
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
4
Tromsø, NO
4
Toronto, CA
3
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
3
Champaign, US
3
Copenhagen, DK
2
Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Division of Marine Zoology, Malacologylocation not on record
2
Citadel Hill, GB
2
IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record
2
Philadelphia, US
2
Istituto di Scienze Marine di Venezialocation not on record
2
BioFokuslocation not on record
2
Banyoles, ES
2
CSIC-CEAB Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes (1393) Eco laboratory geochemistry Benthic Environments UMR 8222 (4503) Université de Liège Underwater research and oceanographic station (4501)location not on record
1
Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO)location not on record
1
Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record
1
South Kensington, GB
1
ELMClocation not on record
1
Auckland, NZ
1
Tilburg, NL
1
neflocation not on record
1
Norwegian Institute of Marine Researchlocation not on record
1
Eco laboratory geochemistry Benthic Environments UMR 8222 (4503)location not on record
1
SNSDlocation not on record
1
Salzburg, AT
1
Denver, US
1
58 institutions · 2 308 of 6 061 vouchered records shown · 1 288 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA27 detections
Where the DNA of Acanthocardia echinata was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found27
Studies independent surveys1
Countries6
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 27 detections have coordinates
Open the map6 countries0
Mixed hard bottomMixed bottomClay with stones
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median12.8 °C 6.00–15.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter11.6 °C
Max temp (day)14.4 °C 6.90–17.2
Min temp (night)9.40 °C 5.10–14.2
Precipitation67.3 mm/mo 45.0–84.7
Air humidity63.0 % 60.9–66.4
Vapour deficit550 Pa 353–632
Cloud cover47.5 % 43.2–51.4
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 22 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 913 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System5 354 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI27 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics32 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗