Live scallops are usually white as well as reddish pink and a cream color in color and the sea scallops have a saucer-shaped shell with scalloped or fluted edges.
The upper shell is usually reddish-pink or brown in color.
The lower shell of the live scallop is white or cream.
A small percentage (5-10 percent) of sea scallops are albinos, with white upper and lower shells.
Scallops live in and inhabit all the oceans of the world, with the largest number of species of scallops living in the Indo-Pacific region.
Most species live in relatively shallow waters from the low tide line to 100 m, while others prefer much deeper water.
The most numerous scallop species are found in the Atlantic Ocean, especially along the Eastern United States and Canada.
Other large scallop fisheries are found in the Sea of Japan and off the coasts of Peru and Chile in the Pacific Ocean.
Bay scallops are typically found in bays, estuaries, and shallow waters on the East Coast, living in the reedy seagrasses.
Sea scallops are found in deep, cold ocean waters—up to 200 meters deep—around the world.
What state is known for scallops?
The U.S. scallop fishery is anchored by New Bedford, Massachusetts, the state where by far the most scallops come to the docks.
Other states with significant scallop fisheries are New Jersey, Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine.
Scallops are a type of bivalve mollusk, meaning the interior muscle is surrounded by two shells similarly to oysters, mussels, and clams.
Inside the shell, scallops have a white adductor muscle (the part we to eat) that opens and closes the shell, as well as a bright orange section called the coral.
Scallops are a cosmopolitan family of bivalves which are found in all of the world's oceans, although never in fresh water.
They are one of very few groups of bivalves to be primarily "free-living", with many species capable of rapidly swimming short distances and even of migrating some distance across the ocean floor.