Species profile
Sea Scallop
Placopecten magellanicus
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
Jurisdictions with rules for Sea Scallop
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
Photo credit: iNaturalist / Wikipedia. Identification reference only — verify regulations with the issuing wildlife agency before retaining a catch.