h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Ubiquitous Cockle - A705953
Author: pop - U190557

I really do eat all my own cockles

Good idea for an article .

How ubiquitous are cockles? This is a global site - will everyone know what a cockle is or does there need to be a description at the beginning? When you say 'our shores', what do you mean?

It needs editing to remove the first person references. And there's the weird things put in by M$ Word. There are a few typos. And what is a cossey?

This is absolutely terrific stuff!

I never dreamed that reading about cockles could be so entertaining.

Nonetheless, I don't think it's edited guide material as it stands. It's a personal piece and should stay that way.

You could do a trimmed down, 'editable' version, but it would be less lively, I think. See what others say, but don't take both barrels to this too hastily. Please!

seeya
spiff

btw, Amy, I think 'cossey' is also written 'cozzy' and refers to a 'swimming COStume'. I am from the UK, and I too failed to get this at first, but if you pronounce the word 'bus' as 'buz', then it seems quite natural to spell 'cozzy' as 'cossey'.

seeya
spiff

A great entry!

Keep the style as it is, but put in some headings:

What's a cockle
Hunting the cockle
Cleaning off
Cooking the cockle

Tidy up the strange &8612; thingies.

There are few typos. Re-read it carefully once it is tidied up.

Love the entry, love the content, love the style - once it got going.
Needs a bit better format though. These things are easier to read in paragraphs as Gnomon says.
Also I'm not sure about the start, maybe a bit of introduction before you get into the thrill of the hunt and the joy of cooking and eating.
I'm sure you could rework this so it's not all first person, but I think it would lose something. There's always the possibility of general information alongside a personal 'this researchers experience of a day cockling".
What do other people think?

Hi Amy
Thank you for your comments, I cockle every summer with my young relations,I do have problems with their parents when they return home covered in mud. The cockle is pretty ubiquitous I found some really huge species in Australia. A cossey is Lancashire and Aussie slang for swimming attire. I will tidy up the entry, you were correct I did write it in MS. word. I enclose some information about cokles.
Common name applied to the heart-shaped, jumping or leaping marine bivalve mollusks, belonging to the order Eulamellibranchia. The brittle shells are of uniform size, are obliquely spherical, and possess distinct radiating ridges, or ribs, which aid the animal in gripping the sand. The mantle has three distinct apertures (inhalant, exhalant, and pedal) through which the inhalant and exhalant siphons and the foot protrude. The cockle lives in sand and mud in shallow water, often in brackish inlets. It burrows until only the siphons project, pulling in water from which the animal strains the minute planktonic organisms on which it feeds. All cockles are hermaphroditic. In order to accomplish the characteristic jumping form of forward locomotion, the large, powerful, muscular foot is bent backward beneath the shell and then straightened. In most adults, the foot is about as long as the greatest length of the shell.
Several species of cockles are considered to be good, edible clams. In the British Isles, great numbers of cockles are taken annually for food from densely populated beds. These beds have been known to migrate in units, probably in response to changes in currents. Protothaca staminea, the rock cockle, is among the best known and most widely used for food. It usually does not exceed 3 in. (7.5 cm) in length. Rock cockles are poor diggers and inhabit packed mud, or gravel mixed with sand, usually 8 in. (20 cm) below the surface. They are found on the Pacific Coast near the rocky shores of bays and estuaries. Those inhabiting the open coast during the summer months should not be eaten because they may be infected with toxin-producing organisms. P. semidecussata, the Japanese littleneck clam, is smaller but considered to be better-flavored than the rock cockle. The shell is more elongated, with a brownish to bluish banding on one end. It inhabits an environment similar to that of P. staminea and is widespread in Puget Sound, Wash.; British Columbia; and San Francisco and Tomales Bay, Calif.
Unlike the genus Protothaca, the basket cockles (Clinocardium nuttalli, or Cardium corbis) are good diggers and have a large foot. Lacking siphon tubes, basket cockles burrow only slightly beneath the surface and inhabit sand flats, particularly along the Pacific Coast. They are considered good eating clams but are too few in number to be widely marketed. They are most abundant in British Columbia and in Puget Sound, Wash., with fewer found south as far as Baja California and north as far as the Bering Sea.
The hard shell cockles, genus Chione, are found from San Pedro, Calif., S into Mexico. The giant Atlantic cockle, Dinocardium robustum (Cardium magnum), reaches 5 in. (12.5 cm) in diameter and is found along the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to Brazil. It has shells with toothed margins, strikingly colored in yellowish brown with spots and transverse stripes of chestnut or purple. Cockles are classified in the phylum Mollusca, class Pelecypoda or bivalvia, order Eulamellibranchia.

Regards Malcolm.

Don't include all that stuff about the cockle in the entry, unless you put it at the end, as it will take the life out of the entry. Put a three line intro at the start saying what the cockle is and where you get it. Then launch into the entry as it is.

First person stuff really has to be taken out. It is only in exceptional circumstances that it can be left in, such as A602876 "My Life with a Cyst on my Brain". It's not good enough to put "this researcher" instead of I or me. But it is still possible to convert a basically personal entry into one which is "third person". Have a look at A471557 "Sandcastles" to see how this can be done.

Thank you for the input. I have taken out the first references as you advise. I do not intend to use the long bit about the cockle it is just for reference, but it makes interesting reading.

Hi, pop!

I agree with the people who said that putting in headers would be a good idea. You don't have to use Guide ML to do this, if you're not used to it: if you put the headers in plain text, with an empty line above and below, like this:

Cooking cockles

a Sub-Editor will be able to put them in Guide ML if the entry is recommended for the Edited Guide. Headers always make the entry look more organised and impressive.


Azara
<rose.

Thank you for the advise Azari, I have edited does it make a difference?

Regards pop

Thank you for the advise Azara, I have edited does it make a difference?

Regards pop

I'm still bothered about the title and the first paragraph. Perhaps "Catching and Cooking Cockles" would be better.

I found this http://www.marlin.ac.uk/demo/adult_distrib_Cergla.htm but I couldn't find any pages that suggested a worldwide distribution for the cockle.

I think you should lose the long list of relatives.

You need to explain where Fleetwood is. Most of your readership will have no idea. Do they really shoot cockles? Astonishing!



Amy

Congratulation! Your entry has been recommended for the Edited Guide. It will be sent to a Sub-Editor first before appearing on the front page of the guide.

You can find out what happens next here:

<./>What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended</.>?

Congratulation! Your entry has been recommended for the Edited Guide. It will be sent to a Sub-Editor first before appearing on the front page of the guide.

You can find out what happens next here:

<./>What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended</.>?

There was only one Congratulation in Singing Fish's posting, so he had to repeat it!

Well done!

Oops! Congratulations!!!

Congratulations, Pop!

Azara

Just had a quick look at your space, Pop, and *there's nothing there!*.

It would be nice if you would put something in, by pressing the 'Edit' button. What a pity to have an edited entry, but nothing from you on your space.

If you need help with this, just click on my name and leave me a message!