Pholas dactylus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Common piddock (Marine bivalve images)

The rocks in Cornwall are often too hard for this striking rock boring mollusc, so it is a rare find in the county. The shell itself is beautiful marked but it is also quite fragile, and easily broken. Shells are found on the south coast where there are softer rocks e.g. around St. Austell Bay, Helford Passage and Mounts Bay, where they are found in degraded Mylor Slate, fossilised timber and submarine peat deposits.

Photographs were taken in the St. Austell Bay Area of Cornwall, where new sites for this species have recently been found; and at Chyandour Rocks, Penzance, Cornwall.

Scientific and European Names:
Pholas dactylus, Common piddock, Gewone boormossel, Pholade, gite, Grande pholade, Dattelmuschel, Grose bohrmuschel, Dattero bianco.

APHOTOMARINE

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography
and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters
and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.

APHOTOMARINE

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.

An educational resource dedicated mainly to the photography
and diversity of marine life that can be found in coastal waters
and intertidal areas of Great Britain and Ireland by David Fenwick.