Atlantic sea scallop

Atlantic sea scallop
Dann Blackwood, USGS · Public domain · source
Name	Atlantic sea scallop
Regnum	Animalia
Phylum	Mollusca
Classis	Bivalvia
Ordo	Pectinida
Familia	Pectinidae
Genus	Placopecten
Species	P. magellanicus
Binomial	Placopecten magellanicus
Binomial authority	(Gmelin, 1791)

Contents

Atlantic sea scallop is a large marine bivalve of the family Pectinidae valued for its adductor muscle and shell. It is an ecologically and economically important species targeted by commercial fleets and studied by marine scientists across institutions such as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NOAA Fisheries, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and Stony Brook University. Management of the species involves regulators, industry stakeholders, and conservation groups including New England Fishery Management Council, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, and international partners like the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization.

Taxonomy and description

Placopecten magellanicus belongs to the class Mollusca and order Pectinida, described taxonomically by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1791. Adult shells are typically circular to fan-shaped with radiating ribs and variable coloration; diagnostic characters are used by taxonomists at institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, American Museum of Natural History, and Natural History Museum, London for identification. Morphological studies often reference comparative collections at Peabody Museum of Natural History, Museum of Comparative Zoology, and regional museums in Boston, Portland (Maine), and Saint John, New Brunswick. Genetic analyses using markers developed in laboratories at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dalhousie University complement classical descriptions.

The species inhabits northwest Atlantic waters from the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador and Labrador through the Gulf of Saint Lawrence south to the Mid-Atlantic Bight off New Jersey and Virginia. Benthic surveys conducted by crews aboard research vessels from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow map populations on continental shelf grounds such as Georges Bank, the Grand Banks, and areas adjacent to Cape Cod and Bay of Fundy. Preferred habitats include sandy, gravelly, and shell-hash substrates at depths typically between shallow shelf zones and deeper grounds monitored by NOAA Fisheries, Geological Survey of Canada, and regional marine laboratories.

Reproductive biology has been documented by scientists at University of Maine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Dartmouth College using histology and larval culture methods developed with funding from agencies including National Science Foundation and NOAA. Spawning is seasonal and often synchronized with temperature cues and phytoplankton blooms studied by teams at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Larvae are planktonic and disperse on currents influenced by features such as the Gulf Stream, Labrador Current, and shelf circulation patterns described by oceanographers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and University of Rhode Island. Settlement and juvenile growth occur on benthos monitored by cooperative research programs involving the New England Aquarium and regional fishery sectors.

As a suspension-feeder, the scallop filters phytoplankton and particulate organic matter, interacting ecologically with marine primary producers like diatoms and dinoflagellates documented by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and University of Washington. Predators include demersal fishes, crustaceans, and echinoderms studied in predator–prey research at Duke University Marine Lab, University of New Hampshire, and University of Prince Edward Island. Scallop beds form biogenic habitat influencing benthic community structure, a topic investigated by ecologists affiliated with The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and regional conservation organizations in Maine and Nova Scotia.

Commercial fisheries developed historically in ports such as New Bedford, Massachusetts, Gloucester, Massachusetts, Lubec, Maine, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and are regulated under management frameworks established by New England Fishery Management Council, Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Management tools include limited access programs, rotation and area closures, size limits, and days-at-sea policies implemented with enforcement by NOAA Fisheries, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and regional enforcement agencies. Economic and social dimensions have been analyzed by scholars at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Rutgers University, and Memorial University of Newfoundland, while industry practices and gear innovations are developed with partners such as the Groundfish Forum and regional fishing associations.

Threats include overfishing trends documented in historical catch records analyzed by researchers at NOAA, University of Maine, and Dalhousie University; habitat degradation from bottom trawling examined by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Duke University; and climate-driven changes to temperature and acidification studied by teams at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Conservation responses involve closed areas, stock assessment science coordinated by NOAA Fisheries and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, habitat restoration pilots supported by The Nature Conservancy and regional governments in Massachusetts and Nova Scotia, and monitoring programs run by academic partners including University of New Hampshire and Stony Brook University.

Category:Pectinidae Category:Marine molluscs of North America