This week I’ve been in the USA couriering a loan back from the stunning Corning Museum of Glass (I’ll write about that sometime soon). However, that means I’ve had limited access to specimens for this week’s mystery object and I’m restricted to what I’ve got on my phone. Fortunately, I have this non-vertebrate mystery object for you to try your hand at identifying to species:
It’s quite a cool specimen and I’ll tell you why next week! Have fun!
Zygoma 
’bout the size of a bumble bee
with wings at the bridge
not a musscular hinge
a wee lil scallop i see
Wot Joe sed. But haven’t a clue about species…
No idea what species, but did someone name their company after it?
Hardly a taxonomic comment but, it appears to be one of the Calico Scallops like the ones I used to collect on the beaches of South Florida.
Okay: most scallops seem to have she’ll patterns that are concentric and often radial and pretty regular. Daniel mentioned the calico scallop, which has a more mottled pattern, like this, but which tends to be purple.
So still no clue but am wondering if the mottled pattern may be a diagnostic key…
is the scale 1cm or 2cm? either way, assuming (?!) it’s an adult it’s a rather small scallop. there is a hawaiian dwarf scallop but it shows a very different pattern.
Scale is 1cm.
daniel,
the number of ribs looks like a good fit for the calico, but the size would require it to be a juvenile. ??
Since I spent Sunday sick in bed, I decided to research scallops. But when I tried to find info about scallops, mostly all I could find were recipe and cooking sites! I did find a tiny scallop called a kelp scallop, however, there are 20 ribs or so on the shell in the photo and the kelp scallop seems to have less. Here are some sites I found: pictureshttps://www.eumed.net/malakos/hispa/Pectinidae.html
http://www.shellscarvalho.com/carvalho_Pectinoidea_List.html
My cold medicine keeps putting me to sleep, so I admit I haven’t quite found a match to the mystery shell. I will have to wait for next Friday to see what it is! (And hopefully be over my flu!)
I trust you found some good recipes? Hope you’re feeling better!
As a last gasp, and because Paolo said there was something ‘cool’ about it, I wonder of scallops grow more slowly, and smaller, in cold waters. Is there such a thing as an Arctic scallop?
You’re being too literal I’m afraid 😉
aha! he said too littoral… is this a deep water scallop??
😉
Not that deep, but I’m glad you spotted that one 😉