This week’s low midafternoon tides provided excellent beachcombing conditions around lunchtime. I found a variety of treasures, including pen shells, pear whelks, and hundreds of Atlantic cockles.

A heart cockle shell has been found to let in light through a design that resembles fiber optic cables. This could inspire everything from helping coral survive to designing new camera lenses. There's ...

SLURPING OYSTERS from their shells may be a rare indulgence for humans, but these bivalve molluscs and their relatives, such as clams and mussels, slurp for a living. Most are filter feeders, ...

Named for its heart-shaped shell, the heart cockle is a marine clam found in the Indo-Pacific region. Along with plankton that it filters from the water, the mollusk also feeds on sugars produced by ...

So it is at Tillamook Bay, where the four-mile long Bayocean Spit offers a hike or a bike ride to reach clam heaven. The summertime low tides are perfect for this adventure as we cool off with cockle ...