Scallops

Scallop Facts

The scallop, a bivalve mollusk, is harvested for the muscle that holds its two shells together.

Commercially valuable scallop beds are usually found at depths between 60 and 360 feet, and scallops are harvested mainly by dredge gear but sometimes with trawl nets. A dredger’s days at sea are limited per year, and the calendar begins annually on March 1, leading to greater scallop supplies in the spring and summer.

Scallops are shucked at sea: Crew members remove the adductor muscle by hand and discard the remainder overboard. Only about 10-15 percent of a scallop’s total weight is landed. The shucked scallops are placed in cheesecloth bags and iced in the hold.

Two types of scallops, sea and bay, dominate the commercial scallop business in the U.S. A third variety, calicos, is caught in small quantities off the coast of Florida.

Sea scallops are much larger than bays; they are offered in the following "count per lb." sizes: under 10 per lb., 10-20/lb., 20-30/lb. and 30-40/lb. Bay scallops are generally marketed in four sizes: 40-60/lb., 60-80/lb., 80-120/lb., and 120-150/lb.

While sea scallops are found in deep ocean waters, domestic bay scallops reside in bays and estuaries from New England to the Gulf of Mexico. As harvests of bay scallops from U.S. waters have been small in recent years, many of the bay scallops consumed today are imported from China and Mexico.

The domestically caught Placopecten magellanicus satisfies the largest segment of the U.S. market; however, imported scallops from a range of countries, including Peru, Mexico, Canada, China, and Japan, play an important role in helping meet market demand.

Main scallops sold/consumed in the U.S. are

• North Atlantic Sea Scallops (Placopecten magellanicus)
• Chinese Bay Scallops (Argopecten irradians)
• Chinese Sea Scallops (Pecten yessoensis)
• Japanese Sea Scallops (Pecten yessoensis)
• Mexican Bay Scallops (Argopecten circularis)