Common Pipi

Naming

It is most widely known as the pipi in the eastern states of its native Australia. In South Australia, it is called the Coorong cockle, Goolwa cockle, or Goolwa pipi, for the region where it is most abundant, or by its Ngarrindjeri name, kuti. In south-eastern Queensland, it is often also known as eugarie or ugari, a borrowing from the local Yugambeh and Ugarapul languages.

Behavior

''P. deltoides'' is an edible bivalve mollusc primarily found from the Eyre Peninsula to Kingston SE in South Australia and from Tasmania to Fraser Island in Queensland, with Younghusband Peninsula in South Australia the site of the largest stock abundance in Australia, where they make up 85% of the total biomass. The Sir Richard Peninsula and Younghusband Peninsula sand dunes are composed mainly of ''P. deltoides'' shell sediments that have formed over the last 6,600 years.

''P. deltoides'' live on high-energy beaches, the juveniles in the intertidal zone and the adults in the subtidal zone. They use a strong foot to burrow into the sand to an average depth of 100 mm and feed by filtering phytoplankton from the water. They mature at around one year of age and live from four to five years, reaching a maximum size of 80 mm . They are dioecious serial broadcast spawners, with spawning taking place over a long period of time peaking in the spring. Larvae drift as plankton for four to eight weeks in the coastal currents, often travelling large distances. They need heavy surf to live, as the surf concentrates the phytoplankton they feed on and increases the oxygen in the water; after periods of calm weather, they begin to die off.