Flame Scallop

Care at a glance

Overview

It needs an established tank of 115 litres or more at 24 to 27 C and pH 8.1 to 8.4 with a shaded crevice to tuck into. The hard part is food, since it is a pure filter feeder that needs frequent target feeding of phytoplankton and fine particles, and most specimens slowly starve over a few months. It is harmless to corals and fish but is best attempted only by keepers ready to dose plankton often.

In the wild

The flame scallop is a filter feeding bivalve with a rough ribbed shell and a brilliant red mantle fringed by long red and white tentacles. It wedges itself into a shaded crevice and fans water through its gills to feed. Despite the bright color it is a clam relative, not a coral.

Good to know

Ctenoides scaber, also listed under its old name Lima scabra, gets its red color from carotenoid pigments in its tissue. A close relative, the electric flame scallop, produces rippling flashes of light along its mantle edge, but this species does not.

Did you know

If threatened it can clap its shell shut and jet backward through the water to escape.

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