Description: Argopecten gibbus (Linnaeus, 1767) - Atlantic calico scallop shell, modern (latest Holocene) Bivalves are bilaterally symmetrical molluscs having two calcareous, asymmetrical shells (valves) - they include the clams, oysters, and scallops. In most bivalves, the two shells are mirror images of each other (the major exception is the oysters). They occur in marine, estuarine, and freshwater environments. Bivalves are also known as pelecypods and lamellibranchiates. Bivalves are sessile, benthic organisms - they occur on or below substrates. Most of them are filter-feeders, using siphons to bring in water, filter the water for tiny particles of food, then expel the used water. The majority of bivalves are infaunal - they burrow into unlithified sediments. In hard substrate environments, some forms make borings, in which the bivalve lives. Some groups are hard substrate encrusters, using a mineral cement to attach to rocks, shells, or wood. The fossil record of bivalves is Cambrian to Recent. They are especially common in the post-Paleozoic fossil record. Scallops are distinctive bivalves with nearly symmetrical valves. The convexity and color of the two valves of an individual can vary dramatically in many species. The volcano-like structure on this scallop shell is a striped acorn barnacle, Balanus amphitrite (Darwin, 1854). Classification of scallop: Animalia, Mollusca, Bivalvia, Pteriomorphia, Pectinoida, Pectinidae Classification of encrusting barnacle: Animalia, Arthropoda, Crustacea, Maxillopoda, Cirripedia, Sessilia, Balanidae Locality: Lighthouse Point beach, southern shore of the eastern tip of Sanibel Island, Gulf of Mexico coast of southern Florida, USA More info. at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scallop and
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argopecten_gibbus and
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibalanus_amphitrite. Date: 12 April 2020, 02:31. Source:
Argopecten gibbus with encrusting barnacle (Atlantic calico scallop shell) (Sanibel Island, Florida, USA) 1. Author:
James St. John.
