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'Scallops' are the family 'Pectinidae' of bivalve molluscs. They are a species, found throughout much of the world's oceans. Like the true oysters (family Ostreidae), they have a central adductor muscle, and thus their shells have a characteristic central scar marking its point of attachment. However, the adductor muscle of scallops is larger and more developed than that of oysters because they are active swimmers and the sole migratory bivalve. Their shell shape tends to be highly regular, recalling the archetypal form of a seashell.
Scallops may be attached to a substrate by a structure called a byssus, or cemented to their substrate (e.g. ''Hinnites spp.''). They can also be free living. A scallop can swim by rapidly opening and closing its shell. This method of rapidly opening and closing its shell is also a defense technique, protecting it from threats. There is an audible whistling sound upon propulsion that the scallops make.

Contents

Life cycle

Taxonomy and list of genera

Gathering scallops

Scallops in cooking

Symbolism

Shell of Saint James

Fertility symbol

Heraldry

State Shell of New York

Scallops in design

References

External links

Life cycle

Scallops are hermaphroditic; capable of switching sexes. Both sexes produce roe, whose coloring depends upon the parent's (current) sex. Red roe is that of a female, and white, that of a male. Spermatozoa and ova are released freely into the water during mating season and fertilized ova sink to the bottom. After several weeks, the immature scallop hatches and the larvae drift until settling to the bottom again to grow. They reach sexual maturity after several years, though they may not reach a commercially harvestable size until six to eight years of age. Scallops may live up to 18 years, with their age reflected in the annuli, the concentric rings of their shells.
On the east coast of the U.S., the availability of bay scallops has been greatly diminished by the overfishing of sharks in the area. A variety of sharks have, until recently, fed on rays, which are a main predator of bay scallops. With the shark population reduced, in some places almost totally, the rays have been free to dine on scallops to the point of greatly decreasing their numbers.

Taxonomy and list of genera

In total, in the family Pectinidae, there are more than 30 genera and around 350 species. While species are generally well circumscribed, their attribution to subfamilies and genera is sometimes equivocal, and there is minimal information about phylogeny and relationships of the species, not least because most work has been based on adult morphology (Barucca ''et al.'', 2004).

Gathering scallops

Scallops were traditionally caught by dragging the seabed, but now in British seas there is a trade in scuba diving to catch scallops. Dived scallops tend to fetch better prices than dredged scallops because they are out of the water for less time. Meaning, they get to the consumers' plate quicker. When Scallops are dredged, they may spend up to 2 weeks on a vessel before they get to market. Like any seafood, the meat will start to break down in time.

Scallops in cooking

Scallops are a popular type of shellfish in both Eastern and Western cooking. They are characterised by having two types of meat in one shell: the adductor muscle, called "scallop" which is white and meaty, the roe, called "coral", which is red or white and soft.
In western cuisine, scallops are commonly sautéed in butter, or else breaded and deep fried. Scallops are commonly paired with light semi-dry white wines. Generally speaking in the U.S., when a scallop is prepared, only the adductor muscle is used; the other parts of the scallop surrounding the muscle are ordinarily discarded. Sometimes markets in the U.S. sell scallops already prepared in the shell, with only the adductor muscle intact. Outside the U.S., the scallop is often sold whole.
Scallops that are without any additives are called "dry packed" while scallops that are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) are called "wet packed". STP causes the scallops to absorb moisture prior to the freezing process, thereby getting a better price per unit of weight. The freezing process takes about 2 days.
In continental cuisine, scallops are often prepared in the form of a quiche or cooked and then set into a savory custard. In Japanese cuisine, scallops may be served in soup or prepared as sashimi or sushi. Dried scallop is known in Oriental cuisine as conpoy.
In a sushi bar, ''hotategai''(帆立貝, 海扇) is the traditional scallop on rice, and while ''kaibashira'' (貝柱) may be called scallops, it is actually the adductor muscle of any kind of shellfish, e.g. mussels, oysters, or clams.
Scallops have lent their name to the culinary term ''scalloped'', which originally referred to seafood creamed and served hot in the shell (Rombauer 1964). Today it means a creamed casserole dish such as scalloped potatoes, which contains no seafood at all.
Potato scallops are also a popular 'chip shop' dish in middle of England. They are a thick potato slice covered in batter and deep fryed.

Symbolism

Shell of Saint James

The scallop shell is the traditional emblem of Saint James the Greater and is popular with pilgrims on the Way of St James to the apostle's shrine at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Medieval Christians making the pilgrimage to his shrine often wore a scallop shell symbol on their hats or clothes.
The pilgrim also carried a scallop shell with him and would present himself at churches, castles, abbeys etc. where he could expect to be given as much sustenance as he could pick up with one scoop. Probably he would be given oats, barley, and perhaps beer or wine. Thus even the poorest household could give charity without being overburdened.
The association of Saint James with the scallop can most likely be traced to the legend that the apostle once rescued a knight covered in scallops. An alternate version of the legend holds that while St. James's remains were being transported to Spain from Jerusalem, the horse of a knight fell into the water, and emerged covered in the shells.

★ The German word for scallop is "Jakobsmuschel".

★ The Swedish word for scallop literally translates to ''pilgrim mussel''.

★ A French name for a dish containing scallops is ''coquille St. Jacques'' (in Québec, ''pétoncle'' is more commonly used).

★ The Dutch name is ''Jakobsschelp'' (James being English for Jacobus).

Fertility symbol

One legend of the Way of St James holds that the route was seen as a sort of fertility pilgrimage, undertaken when a young couple desired to bear offspring; the scallop shell is believed to have originally been carried therefore by pagans as a symbol of fertility.
Many paintings of Venus, the Roman goddess of love and fertility, included a scallop shell in the painting to identify her; this is evident in Botticelli's classically inspired ''The Birth of Venus'' (which has even been nicknamed "Venus on the half-shell").
Alternatively, the scallop resembles the Setting Sun, which was the focus of the pre-Christian Celtic rituals of the area. To wit, the pre-Christian roots of the ''Way of St. James'' was a Celtic death journey westwards towards the setting sun, terminating at the ''End of the World'' (''Finisterra'') on the "Coast of Death" (''Costa de Morta'') and the "Sea of Darkness" (ie, the Abyss of Death, the ''Mare Tenebrosum'', Latin for the Atlantic Ocean, itself named after the ''Dying Civilization'' of Atlantis). The reference to St. James rescuing a "knight covered in scallops" is therefore a reference to St. James healing, or resurrecting, a dying (setting sun) knight. Similarly, the notion of the "Sea of Darkness" (Atlantic Ocean) disgorging St. James' body, so that his relics are (allegedly) buried at Santiago de Compostella on the coast, is itself a metaphor for "rising up out of Death", that is, resurrection.

Heraldry

The scallop shell symbol found its way into heraldry as a badge of those who had been on the pilgrimage to Compostela, although later it became a symbol of pilgrimage in general. Winston Churchill's family coat of arms includes a scallop, as does John Wesley's (and as a result the scallop shell is used as an emblem of Methodism). However, charges in heraldry do not always have an unvarying symbolic meaning, and there are cases of arms in which no family member went on a pilgrimage and the occurrence of the scallop is simply a pun on the name of the armiger, or for other reasons.

State Shell of New York

The U.S. state of New York made the bay scallop its state shell in 1988.

Scallops in design

In design ''Scalloped edges'' or ''ridges'' refers to a wavy pattern reminiscent of the edge of a scallop's shell.

References

★ Rombauer, Irma S. and Marion Rombauer Becker (1931 [1964]) ''The Joy of Cooking'', p 369. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN 0-452-25665-8.

★ Barucca M, Olmo E, Schiaparelli S, Canapa A (2004) Molecular phylogeny of the family Pectinidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

External links

★ Bay Scallops - Cooking, eating, shucking, and harvesting with pictures and video

★ Biology Photo of the Month: Scallop eyes

★ Alaska Department of Fish and Game

★ Research on Bay Scallop Aquaculture and Enhancement

★ The Scallop

★ Classification of Pectinoidea (Propeamussiidae and Pectinidae) - includes partly different genera, with subfamilies and tribes.]

★ Too Few Jaws: Shark declines let rays overgraze scallops -- Science News Online, March 31, 2007