The rough scallop, ''Aequipecten muscosus'', grows up to . It has a small, scallop-shaped shell with about 20 strong ribs which have many erect scales or small spines near the margin. The hinge line has ears. The coloration of the rough scallop shell varies from pink to a dark red exterior, often mottled with colors such as brown and

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, but it is also sometimes bright lemon-yellow or bright orange.

Habitat

An offshore species: the shell is rarely found on ocean

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

es. This species inhabits ocean waters from

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

to the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. The Rough Scallop was frequently netted as incidental catch in commercial

Atlantic calico scallop ''Argopecten gibbus'', the Atlantic calico scallop, is a species of medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. This species was once the basis of an important fishery, but in recent years catches have bee ...

fishery.

References

Phylum Mollusca

Rough Scallop
an
NC Sea Grant

External links

Pectinidae Bivalves described in 1828 Environmental impact of fishing {{Pectinidae-stub