Bivalves boogie. Mollusks mambo.
September 14, 2022 8:32 AM   Subscribe

Scallops have 200 tiny eyes, so the lights [on the modified crab pot] proved irresistible to the shellfish. "Currently, most commercial scallop harvesting is carried out using dredges, a fishing method which can cause extensive harm to sensitive marine habitats and species. This discovery paves the way for the creation of a new low-impact inshore fishery" (source). Tweet and direct link to the video of that EUREKA moment (complete with profanity). First found via NPR.
posted by spamandkimchi (13 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Scallop swimming and swimming.
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:36 AM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


Anything to bring these tasty darlings to my plate safely!
posted by Goofyy at 8:42 AM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


Interesting -- this item was a fact in the August 18 episode of No Such Thing as a Fish. I don't want to say the NPR piece was a reaction to that, but the timing sure does seem fishy (mollusky?).

Those videos of scallops swimming are like something straight out of Sesame Street. You can practically see the wire on the little scallop puppet.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:48 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]


I'm sitting here stunned by the fact that until today I never even considered that scallops might swim.

Here's another one of scallops swimming in groups, this one maybe showing some attraction to light (or maybe not, it's hard to tell). And here's wikipedia with some ridiculous pictures of scallop eyes.
posted by trig at 9:50 AM on September 14, 2022 [6 favorites]


Scallops swimming is definitely my "I was today years old when I learned" moment of the day. And also my WTF moment of the day.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:52 AM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]




I've been reading An Immense World by Ed Yong, which is about the sensory worlds of animals. They talk a bit about scallop eyes but the part that stuck with me is describing scallops swimming like panicky castanets.
posted by gamera at 12:02 PM on September 14, 2022 [8 favorites]


♫ "and though their eyes were rather small..."♫
posted by BWA at 12:03 PM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


It does make a lot of sense that they swim... Not a lot of evolutionary advantage to having eyes of you can't move.

(Also kind of continually shocked that dredge fishing is still allowed in any form...)
posted by kaibutsu at 12:11 PM on September 14, 2022


Anything to reduce the impact of fishing on marine ecosystems! Love scallops. To eat, and to exist on the planet with in relative harmony.

Though I guess it would only be real harmony if scallops occasionally trapped and ate a human.

I've argued myself into a really indefensible definition of harmony, haven't I.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 12:22 PM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]


Sorry to be a downer but I don't think that placing multiple plastic waterproof flashlights into crabbing (or theoretical scallop-ing) pots is necessarily an automatic environmental win. Not that dredging is any good, either, ugh.

Plastic waste and pollution from practices like crab pots, oyster farms and other shellfish and crustacean harvesting and farming is a huge problem for ocean pollution. As I understand it the fishing industry as a whole contributes a significant fraction of the plastics and microplastic waste in our ocean. I'm constantly finding crab pot nets and oyster nets and discs on the local beaches or bits of larger fishing nets.

These things should be made out of biodegradable plant based resins and plastics. Make them use carbon-zinc batteries wrapped in plain old paper and use lead free solder or no solder at all and then - maybe, maybe - the most toxic part of it would be the LED emitters themselves.

On the very minor upside, maybe I'll start finding usable crab pot lights on the beaches that I can use for bike lights or emergency lights or something.
posted by loquacious at 12:25 PM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


As a kid I remember watching the effect of a starfish dropped into a tank of scallops. Starfish also find scallops tasty - and they are extremely patient creatures: pulling apart the shell in a process that can take days - then firing their stomach into the gap and digesting away. But first they have to catch their prey - so every scallop shot to the far end of the tank with a speed remarkable for something I thought never moved. In fact - they don’t need to be super fast. Just faster than the other guy!
posted by rongorongo at 12:41 PM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


loquacious, it's true that this is more like harm reduction than a truly sustainable option, going from direct, immediate ecosystem harm (dredging) to indirect, secondary harm caused by derelict fishing gear. My optimistic self imagines that the snazzy light-adorned pots would be more carefully monitored!
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:12 PM on September 14, 2022


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