What do bay scallops eat

Although we should limit our harvest of this fascinating animal, there is nothing that can compare to the flavor of a fresh scallop right out of the shell. The bay scallop has a short life span in the Gulf, living for about one year, and their life ends after spawning.

Scientists have demonstrated that some scallops live for more than a year and probably spawn at least twice, and it is possible that this phenomenon is more common in the northern Gulf. The bay scallop is both a male and a female. Reproduction occurs primarily in the fall as water temperature begins to drop and scallops release eggs and sperm into the water. Although most of the gametes do not survive, in a healthy population enough will survive to produce the next generation of scallops.

Fertilized eggs develop into a swimming larval stage known as a veliger. The veliger develops into a juvenile scallop in about two weeks, when it then settles from the water and attaches to seagrass blades. In the spring the juvenile scallops grow rapidly and detach from the seagrass to take up their free-living lifestyle.

Along the edge of the mantle are tentacles containing cells sensitive to chemicals in the water; these cells help the bay scallop react to its environment. Bay scallops reach maturity when they are one year old, and they spawn in the summer.

They grow quickly, rarely living past three years of age. When bay scallops are young, they attach themselves to objects such as eelgrass by means of a byssal thread. This helps them avoid bottom-feeding predators, such as sea stars. Extreme changes can result in local population collapses. Each year, a local population must produce enough offspring to replenish itself or receive offspring from neighboring populations to remain stable.

Because Florida bay scallops typically only live one year, local populations are more susceptible to periodic collapses. The bay scallop is a member of phylum Mollusca in the class Bivalvia. Bivalves have two valves, or shells, joined by a hinge. The bay scallop's upper shell is a dark, mottled color and its lower shell is typically white.

Occasionally, both shells are bright yellow or orange, but these individuals are rare. Bay scallops can reach a shell height of 90 millimeters 3. In Florida, however, bay scallops rarely grow larger than 75 millimeters 3 inches or live longer than one year. This data allows researchers to assess how many scallops are in an area, how far the scallop populations extend throughout the seagrass beds and how those populations may fluctuate from year to year.

However, their range has decreased considerably and now bay scallops occur in isolated populations within nearshore seagrass habitats. Scallops are sensitive to environmental conditions, e.

Environmental factors such as red tide are something to also keep in mind during scalloping season. Scallops are filter feeders — they filter particles such as algae from the water to eat.

During a red tide bloom, scallops remove large amounts of those red tide cells from the water and concentrate the toxin-producing algae in its gut.