WHERE TO SEE THEM
For now England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland form a United Queendom perhaps we should celebrate Queenies? Europe’s largest fishery for queen scallops (Aequipecten opercularis) is in the UK. Queen scallops are smaller than king scallops, but queenies are better swimmers. Mostly resting on the seabed while filter feeding, scallops swim to migrate and also to escape when they see you coming. Yes, scallops are shellfish with eyes. Their ability to detect shadow and movement from visual cues is not just useful for predator evasion. Scientists have proved that the structures dotting their edge that look like eyes really are eyes by playing scallops movies of drifting particles of food. As the food particles loom closer in the movie scallops open up their shells ready to feed.