The species is a filter feeder that lives on sandy and sandy-silty sediments at depths up to 8–12 m. It is eaten by many commercial fishes and is also edible to humans.

[2][3][4] It is covered with 21–36 oblique triangular radial ribs which are sharply angled on the posterior margin and in the middle portion of the shell.

[8][11] In Tylihul Estuary the species went extinct due to salinity increase caused by construction of a canal which connected the liman with the Black Sea.

In the early 20th century M. colorata lived in the Berezan Estuary and has since disappeared from some known localities although this area has not been fully studied.

Its empty shells have been found in the Lake Varna in Bulgaria where it possibly lived before salinity increase in the first half of the 20th century.

[12] Since 1959 the species has been recorded in the northern part of the Caspian Sea in front of the Volga Delta where it was presumably introduced via ships after the opening of the Volga–Don Canal.

[18][27] In its native habitats this species forms communities with Dreissena mussels and with brackish water cockles Adacna fragilis and Hypanis plicata.

[27] Colored lagoon cockles are eaten by many commercial fishes including Azov roach (Rutilus heckelii), common bream (Abramis brama), sturgeons and larvae of Clupeonella.

[31] The Kuchurgan Liman population is included in the Red Book of Moldova under the "endangered" category as it is threatened by pollution and changes in hydrological cycles.

[32] In Russia the species is listed in the Red Data Book of Krasnodar Krai (2017) under the "vulnerable" category since the single surviving population in this region was only known from the Kirpilsky Liman.

[10] However, it has also been recorded in other areas of Krasnodar Krai in the south-eastern coast of the Sea of Azov, although the current status of these populations is unknown.

[4] I. Borcea (1926) described the species Adacna luciae and several varieties of M. colorata including ialpugensis, angusticostata, lucida and razelmiana.

[36] In the Black Sea basin most authors recognized 2 species of the genus Monodacna (which was sometimes treated as a subgenus of Hypanis): M. colorata and M.