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scallop
(redirected from scallops)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
scallop or pecten, marine bivalve bivalve, aquatic mollusk of the class Pelecypoda ("hatchet-foot") or Bivalvia, with a laterally compressed body and a shell consisting of two valves, or movable pieces, hinged by an elastic ligament.
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 mollusk. Like its close relative the oyster, the scallop has no siphons, the mantle being completely open, but it differs from other mollusks in that both mantle edges have a row of steely blue "eyes" and tactile projections. The rounded shells have radiating ribs with flared "ears" or "wings" at the hinge. Scallops are capable of swimming or leaping about by snapping their shells, which are controlled by a powerful adductor muscle, the only part of the animal that is eaten. Scallops are more common on the Atlantic coast than the Pacific. The common scallop is about 2 in. (5 cm) long. Found abundantly in shallow and offshore waters and in eelgrass and mud flats from Cape Cod to Texas, it is taken in large numbers around Long Island. The giant scallop, found in deeper waters from Labrador to New Jersey, attains a length of 5 in. (12.7 cm). Scallops are classified in the phylum Mollusca Mollusca , taxonomic name for the one of the largest phyla of invertebrate animals (Arthropoda is the largest) comprising more than 50,000 living mollusk species and about 35,000 fossil species dating back to the Cambrian period.
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, class Pelecypoda or bivalvia, order Filibranchia, family Pectinidae.

scallop

Any of more than 400 species (family Pectinidae) of marine bivalves found worldwide, from the intertidal zone to deep waters. The two halves of the shell (valves) are usually fan-shaped, except for a winglike projection at either side of the straight hinge. The shells are 1–6 in. (2.5–15 cm) long. They may be smooth or ribbed and red, purple, orange, yellow, or white. Cilia filter microscopic plants and animals from the water and move them toward the mouth. Scallops swim by clapping the valves, propelling themselves forward. The muscle that closes the valves is a popular food item.


scallop
1. any of various marine bivalves of the family Pectinidae, having a fluted fan-shaped shell: includes free-swimming species (genus Pecten) and species attached to a substratum (genus Chlamys)
2. the edible adductor muscle of certain of these molluscs
3. either of the shell valves of any of these molluscs
4. the shape of a scallop shell used as the badge of a pilgrim, esp in the Middle Ages

scallop [′skäl·əp]
(geology)
(invertebrate zoology)
Any of various bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae distinguished by radially ribbed valves with undulated margins.

scallop
scallops: a scalloped molding
One of a continuous series of curves resembling segments of a circle, used as a decorative element on the outer edge of a strip of wood, molding etc.

(language, history)SCALLOP - A medium-level language for CDC computers, used to bootstrap the first Pascal compiler.


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