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  • José H. Leal

The Zigzag Scallop


The Zigzag Scallop, Euvola ziczac (Linnaeus, 1758), lives offshore along the coast of Southwest Florida and other parts of the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic. Its shell is circular, and the two half-shells, or valves, are strongly dissimilar, with the lower valve strongly concave, and the upper valve flatter, slightly convex. The valves are also remarkably different in color; with the top, flat valve being colorful, usually displaying a pattern of brown or reddish-brown radial bands and zigzag lines, and the lower, concave valve usually an even very light-brown or cream-white. (The top, flattish, valves are also more commonly found on local beaches than the bottom ones.) The living animal is silvery-white in color and, as with many species of Scallops, Zigzag Scallops have many eyes deployed along the two mantle edges.


Photo on right by Amy Tripp in Collier County, shows the living animal and its eye-studded mantle edges. Photo on left by José H. Leal.

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