Bivalvia, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. Bivalves as a group have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
Scallop is a common name that is primarily applied to any one of numerous species of saltwater clams or marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which also includes the thorny oysters.
Chesapecten is an extinct genus of scallop known from marine strata from the early Miocene to the early Pleistocene of the Eastern United States.
The Pteriomorphia comprise a subclass of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. It contains several major orders, including the Arcida, Ostreida, Pectinida, Limida, Mytilida, and Pteriida. It also contains some extinct and probably basal families, such as the Evyanidae, Colpomyidae, Bakevelliidae, Cassianellidae, and Lithiotidae.
Argopecten gibbus, the Atlantic calico scallop, is a species of medium-sized edible marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Nodipecten is a genus of large scallops, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. These scallops often have attractive, strongly colored, thick shells. The generic name Nodipecten means "nodular scallop", because in this genus the shell is usually sculpted with regular, very large nodes.
Aequipecten is a genus of scallops, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae.
Pecten jacobaeus, the Mediterranean scallop, is a species of scallop, an edible saltwater scallop, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Pecten is a genus of large scallops or saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. This is the type genus of the family.
Fordilla is an extinct genus of early bivalves, one of two genera in the extinct family Fordillidae. The genus is known solely from Early Cambrian fossils found in North America, Greenland, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The genus currently contains three described species, Fordilla germanica, Fordilla sibirica, and the type species Fordilla troyensis.
The Pectinoidea are a superfamily of marine bivalve molluscs, including the scallops and spiny oysters.
Pectinida is a taxonomic order of large and medium-sized saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs, commonly known as scallops and their allies. It is believed that they began evolutionarily in the late Middle Ordovician epoch; many species, of course, are still extant.
The Antarctic scallop is a species of bivalve mollusc in the large family of scallops, the Pectinidae. It was thought to be the only species in the genus Adamussium until an extinct Pliocene species was described in 2016. Its exact relationship to other members of the Pectinidae is unclear. It is found in the ice-cold seas surrounding Antarctica, sometimes at great depths.
A hinge ligament is a crucial part of the anatomical structure of a bivalve shell, i.e. the shell of a bivalve mollusk. The shell of a bivalve has two valves and these are joined together by the ligament at the dorsal edge of the shell. The ligament is made of a strong, flexible and elastic, fibrous, proteinaceous material which is usually pale brown, dark brown or black in color.
Gigantopecten latissimus is a species of fossil scallop, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Pectinidae, the scallops. This species lived during the Miocene and the Pliocene. Fossils have been found in the sediments of France and Spain.
Hinnites is a genus of rock scallops, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pectinidae, the scallops.
Gigantostrea is an extinct genus of marine bivalve mollusks belonging to the family Gryphaeidae.
Neopycnodonte is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs belonging to the family Gryphaeidae.
Adamussium is a genus of scallops belonging to the family Pectenidae from the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. There are three known species but only one is extant, the Antarctic scallop. Of the two extinct species A. jonkersi is from the Oligocene deposits on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands and the other, A. necopinatum, was described in 2016 from Pliocene marine deposits in the Vestfold Hills of East Antarctica.
