If you live on the east coast of Canada or the USA, you are probably familiar with these sea-dwelling animals. One way they are commercially caught for food is by dragging metal ring nets along the ocean floor. Only one part of the animal—a large white muscle—is eaten, and it tastes a little like lobster.
That hasn’t given you many hints about the identity of this remarkable animal, has it, Wondernose? Where on this creature are these many eyes found? What is the creature’s shape, you wonder?
Our mystery animal is a mollusk, which means it’s a soft-bodied invertebrate with a hard, protecting shell. It is a bivalve; that means its shell is two-pieced and can open and close by means of special muscles.
“This must be a clam!” you exclaim. Well, no, Wondernose, although both clams and our mystery animal are bivalve mollusks. They do share a lot of similarities, with the two-part shell that can be opened and closed. Both clams and our mystery animal are lined with fleshy skin called the mantle. It’s true that our mystery animal is sometimes called a clam. But a true clam has a muscular foot with which it can burrow in mud, whereas our animal doesn’t do that.
A major difference, then, is how these two types of bivalve mollusks get around. As a matter of fact, clams mostly don’t get around. They stay in one spot, taking in water with their siphons and straining the water to get food, whereas our mystery mollusk can swim! With its strong adductor muscle, it opens and closes its shell. The water spurting out causes it to hurtle through the water. This mollusk does have a “foot,” too, and it can be used to “hitch” or “hop” along the bottom. So you see, Wondernose, it is really quite mobile compared to the clam.
Our mollusk’s shells have interesting shapes. (There are hundreds of species, you see, with a variety of designs.) Generally speaking, though, the shells all have scalloped edges. Have you ever seen a curtain with its bottom edge cut in scallops? That gives you an idea of this shape. And yes—you’re correct—it gives away the animal’s name. Our mystery mollusk is the very aptly-named scallop.
If you want to experience the power of the scallop’s adductor muscle, try this. Hold a scallop out of water, grasping it firmly by the hinge area with your thumb and forefinger. The scallop will open its shell, then shut it violently, with a noise that sounds like a cough. Had the scallop been in the water, this movement would have been strong enough to propel it for a distance. Supposing a crab were to threaten a scallop, the current it creates by clapping its shell is enough to blow the crab away!
Where are those many eyes? You still would like to know. They are distributed all along the fleshy mantle around the outside edge of the scallop.
Also along the outside edge of the mantle are numerous tentacles with which the scallop catches food. With all those bright blue eyes, and tentacles for fingers, a scallop is quite a highly-decorated animal!
