Electric Flame Scallop
The electric flame scallop (Ctenoides ales) is a small clam of Indo-Pacific reefs that appears to flash lightning. A bright, flickering band along the edge of its mantle seems to blink on and off.
The electric flame scallop (Ctenoides ales) is a small clam of Indo-Pacific reefs that appears to flash lightning. A bright, flickering band along the edge of its mantle seems to blink on and off.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Electric Flame Scallop in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Lophotrochozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
The Disco Clam: How Does It Flash?
The flashing is not made by living light, but by reflection. The mantle edge has a layer packed with tiny spheres of silica, which scatter ambient light, and a layer that absorbs it. As the animal rolls the mantle edge back and forth, the surface changes between reflective and absorbent states, creating the flicker.
A Warning or Lure?
What the display is for is not clear. It may deter predators or lure plankton. The clam lives in dark crevices where the blue-white flashes would be conspicuous.
Designing From Nature
The silica nanospheres that scatter light are of interest for designing optical materials. See Great Scallop.
Electric Flame Scallop at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Ctenoides ales |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Mollusca |
| Class | Bivalvia |
| Order | Limida |
| Family | Limidae |
| Field Guide group | Lophotrochozoa: Mollusca (Mollusks) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Bright red fringe of tentacles between two hinged shells hidden in reef crevices; its mantle edge flashes like a disco light. |
| Class | Bivalvia |
| Flash mechanism | Reflection from silica nanospheres |
See Also
- Great Scallop — a scallop with mirror eyes
- Giant Clam — a reef bivalve with reflective cells