Variegated Scallop

This species of scallop lives in the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea. Mimachlamys varia is a shallow-living species, living up to about 100m in depth along coastal rocky areas. It typically lives under boulders or among the holdfasts of seaweeds. This species is found in sheltered habitats in Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, and because of its rapid decline there, it is listed as a Northern Ireland Priority Species.

Like other scallops, this species is a filter feeder, drawing water through its gills and removing the edible fragments. It changes sex several times during the course of its development, becoming a male when fully mature. It is attached by byssus threads when young but may be detached when older. It is often overgrown by the holdfasts of the seaweeds among which it lives, and sponges such as Halichondria panicea may also grow over the shell.