The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and scallop fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.
We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”
For today’s Did You Know we will look at Scallop fun facts.
Scallop Fun Facts: Although they may not look like it, scallops are animals. They are in the Phylum Mollusca, a group of animals that also includes snails, sea slugs, octopi, squid, clams, mussels and oysters.
- Scallops are in the group of mollusks called the bivalves. These animals have two hinged shells that are formed of calcium carbonate.
- Scallops have about 60 eyes that line its mantle. These eyes may be a brilliant blue color, and allow the scallop to detect light, dark and motion.
- Atlantic sea scallops can have very large shells – up to 9″ in length. Bay scallops are smaller, growing to about 4 inches.
- Unlike the mussel and the oyster, the scallop cannot close and seal its shell completely and so can only survive in the deeper, full salinity sea water. Their intolerance of fresh water means that they are not found in intertidal waters except at exceptionally low spring tides.
- In 1280 Marco Polo recorded that scallops were sold in the market in Hangchow, China.
Key Dates
- March 12th is National Baked Scallop Day.
- October 2nd is National Fried Scallop Day.
Scallop Fun Facts We Missed
If we may have missed some scallop fun facts in the comment section below let us know. If we can verify the facts we will give the reader credit in the article.
Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Scallops
Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.
