The common cockle is regularly used as food by the poorer classes.
By means of this muscular foot the cockle burrows rapidly in the muddy sand of the sea-shore, and it can also when it is not buried perform considerable leaps by suddenly bending the foot.
In other respects the anatomy of the cockle presents no important differences from that of a typical Lamellibranch.
The usual size of the cockle in its shell is from I to 2 in.
The cockle is liable to the same suspicion as the oyster of conveying the contamination of typhoid fever where the shores are polluted, but as it is boiled before being eaten it is probably less dangerous.