Sea Animals Charm Page

Shells

Scallop shells are ribbed and almost flat, resembling an open-handed fan. The name "scallop" comes from the French word escalope, which means ‘'shell’’ Atlantic sea scallops can have shells up to 9 inches in length. Bay sea scallops are smaller, growing to about 4 to 6 inches. Although they may not look like it, scallops are animals. They are in the Phylum Mollusca group, a group of animals that also includes snails, sea slugs, octopuses, squid, clams, mussels and oysters. Most scallops are free-swimming. They swim by clapping their shells quickly, which moves a jet of water past the shell hinge, propelling the scallop forward. Scallops eat by filtering small organisms out of the water. Scallops have about 60 eyes that line its mantle, these eyes are embedded at the base of the sensory tentacles that run along the outer edges of their upper and lower shells. These eyes may be a brilliant blue colour, and allow the scallop to detect light, dark and motion. Unlike the mussel and the oyster, the scallop cannot close and seal its shell completely and so can only survive in the deeper sea water. Their intolerance of fresh water means that they are not found in intertidal waters except at exceptionally low spring tides.

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