Kamm- Müscheln. Pectines. Tab. 61.

Title

Kamm- Müscheln. Pectines. Tab. 61.

Description

Six illustrations of different comb shells.

ca. 1750

Artist

Glassbach

Historical Description

The species of scallops have only one large sphincter ("monomyar") and thus only one large sphincter imprint. The shell is usually firm-shelled, but can also be thinner and brittle. The ornamentation very often consists of radial ribs of different intensity and design or also undulations of the shell as well as mostly rather subordinate also concentric accretion stripes or ribs; rarely the concentric ornamentation is stronger than the radial ornamentation. Most species have conspicuous markings on the surface, often of different colours. Usually the upper left valve is more intensely coloured than the lower right valve. The inner sides are mostly white, but can also have coloured patterns. A striking feature of scallops is their numerous eyes on the edge of the mantle. Therefore, they have a correspondingly developed nervous system with a concentration of ganglia in the visceral area. In addition, many species are able to swim when approached by a predator, for example a starfish, by quickly folding their shells several times and escaping the danger.