Sea Scallop

At a glance

Sea Scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) is a scallops regulated in 5 of 66 jurisdictions tracked by CatchRules across the U.S. and Canada.

The strictest bag limit is 1 (New York); the most generous is 100 (Federal Waters (DFO)).

Confirmed by 708 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Massachusetts the top jurisdictions by observation count.

Notable details

• Sea scallops can have up to 200 tiny blue eyes along the edge of their mantle.
• They clap their shells to jet through the water and escape predators.
• Sea scallops can live up to 20 years and grow shells up to 8 inches wide.
• In North America only the adductor muscle is typically sold; in Europe the roe is also eaten.
• They are the largest native scallop species on the Atlantic coast of North America.

Where Sea Scallop are seen

• Nova Scotia232 iNat obs
• New Brunswick175 iNat obs
• Massachusetts120 iNat obs
• Maine73 iNat obs
• New Jersey27 iNat obs
• Newfoundland and Labrador20 iNat obs

Jurisdictions with rules for Sea Scallop

• Federal Waters (DFO)Canada · official source
• MassachusettsUnited States · official source
• New YorkUnited States · official source
• Newfoundland and LabradorCanada · official source
• Prince Edward IslandCanada · official source

Background

Placopecten magellanicus, the Atlantic deep-sea scallop (previously known as Pecten tenuicostatus and as Pecten grandis and once referred to as the "giant scallop") is a commercially important pectinid bivalve mollusk native to the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Sea Scallop article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.

Other scallops on CatchRules

• Pink ScallopChlamys rubida