Blue Eyed Scallops

Who doesn't love a scallop? Their shells are lovely, their meat is sweet and they have all those awesome blue eyes. They are also the only bivalve that can swim a little. It isn't really swimming but by opening and closing their shells they can propel themselves along the bottom of the ocean. Other bivalves, such as oysters remain attached to something their whole life or bury themselves in sand or mud, like clams.

Here on the Cape you can find blue eyed scallops wherever there is a good community of eelgrass. Much of the eelgrass in Cape waters has been in decline over the last 50 years but in some areas it seems to be coming back, if not quite flourishing. A lot of our south side beaches are good places to find these shells and in the fall you will see the scallopers out there with their rakes and buckets. It used to be that a good storm would wash hundreds of them up on the shore, free for the taking but those days are long gone.

Kids love finding live scallops. If they put them in a bucket of water at the beach and keep watch they should be able to see the scallop open up to show off those beautiful baby blues.

Blue-eyed Beauties

One of the true pleasures of living near the sea is being able to find and eat fresh shellfish and other sea food. Bay scallops, also called Blue-eyed scallops may be one of the most favored and sought after of shellfish. Small, tender and sweet they make wonderful eating. When I was a child growing up on Cape Cod bay scallops were plentiful but these days they have become a much rarer find and are very expensive. It used to be that they would wash up on local beaches by the thousands after a good storm and the locals would be ready with buckets in hand to run along the shore to scoop up as many as they could as the tide receded. Sadly those days are long gone.

Bay scallops prefer eel grass beds and our eel grass beds are being overtaken by invasive seaweeds, polluted by boat fuels, septic overflows and other lovely things and overfishing as well.

If you are lucky enough to find a live scallop you will see its ring of bright blue eyes. Place it in a bucket of water and you will see it "swim" as it propels itself backwards by opening and slamming shut its shell.

Check south side beaches for scallop shells during the winter.

Oh, and don't forget the true locals say "scollup" not "scaaallop."