Short couple following French sea bird (6)
I believe the answer is:
merlin
'bird' is the definition.
(merlin is a kind of bird)
'short couple following french sea' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'couple' becomes 'link' (couple can mean to link or join).
'following' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'french sea' becomes 'mer' ('sea' in French).
'link' with its final letter removed is 'lin'.
'lin' after 'mer' is 'MERLIN'.
(Other definitions for merlin that I've seen before include "Magician of the Round Table" , "Wizard; bird of prey" , "Legendary magician" , "small aggressive bird of prey" , "Magician of Arthurian legend" .)