Did you ever eat a dish of fried scallops? As you looked at the little squares of food on your plate, did you wonder why you had never seen them in the water? What kind of creature was this that existed in square chunks of meat?

Actually, what are sold as “scallops” and what you eat as “scallops” are only the large muscles certain mollusks. These muscles are used to open and close the shells, and they are the only part we eat.

The scallop itself is a curious creature. As you probably know, most bivalves (mollusks with two shells) find a place to live and stay there. They may fasten themselves to rocks or to timbers, or form a bed on the bottom of the ocean as the oysters do. But the scallop is quite different.

The scallop likes to wander about. He is constantly moving place to place. The way he moves is by sucking water into his shell and then squirting it out suddenly. This gives him enough force to push himself forward in zigzag fashion.

Did you know that the scallop became a symbol for travelers because it is always moving? In the Middle Ages, pilgrims wore a scallop shell in their hats to indicate that they had made a long trip by Sea.

Scallops belong to the great group of mollusks which includes snails, clams, and oysters. There are more than two hundred different species.

The common scallop lives in bays close to shore, and measures up to 3 centimeters across. The giant scallop is a sea scallop. It is found off-shore in deeper waters and measures about 15 centimeters across.