The distinctive "smile" of a rock scallop.

Rock Scallops

The meat is sweet, firm, with a slight nutty flavor. And that’s raw. That’s the way most experienced divers like it, myself included. Rock scallops have long been a favorite of California divers, experienced or not. Why? They are easy to gather and clean, take a minimum amount of additional equipment, and can be prepared in a number of ways, from simple to more sophisticated dishes.

But perhaps what makes them popular with a wide spectrum of divers, beginner on up, is the simple fact they don’t scurry off like lobster and fish. In fact, rock scallops, after a short infancy drifting with the plankton, permanently affix themselves to rocks to spend the extent of their life filter-feeding their food from the water column. Once attached to the rock, marine growth overtakes their outer shell making them nearly indistinguishable from the reef. That is perhaps the most difficult part about hunting rock scallops—finding them.

Rock scallops attach themselves just about anywhere there is a good flow of plankton-rich waters from which they filter feed. They especially like offshore pinnacles, oil platforms, and rocky reef near shore that are bathed in water movement from either or both currents or surge. Some of the biggest rock scallops I have ever seen were inside the Los Angeles Harbor where tidal currents keep the scallops well fed. It is, however, illegal to dive in the harbor without a permit, and I would not dare eat scallops from here because of the pollution. Although they can be found as shallow as 10 feet, they generally prefer deeper waters 30 to 100 feet. Deep water wrecks, 60 to 140 feet, are excellent places to find them. On natural reefs, they tend to favor the undersize of ledges and in dark crevices or along shadowed walls. They can be found up and down the entire coast of California but are more bountiful in slightly cooler waters.

So just how do you spot these well camouflaged delicacies? By their “smile,” of course! When the scallop is open and feeding you can easily spot them by their bright orange mantle. Some scallops are gray in color and are harder to spot. I’ve heard it said that one is female and the other male or that the grays are a sub-species, but I never have gotten a straight story. All I know is they taste equally wonderful.

As you scour the reef for your quarry, try not to bump into the rock face as this may cause the scallops to close, making them more difficult to spot. In your search, a dive light is helpful to peer into dark crevices and under ledges.

Are scallops abundant? Yes and no. Spots that are frequented often by divers that once had a lot of scallops are now showing definite signs of over-harvesting. Less frequented sites, however, thrive. Rock scallops do recover and repopulate, but not if they are hunted on a weekly basis.

The legal limit on rock scallops is 10 per person per day with no season. You must have a valid fishing license. There is no size limit, but a good rule of thumb is to not take any scallop smaller than the palm of your hand. This will give the scallop some time to reproduce and taking small scallops is not productive anyway as the yield of meat is small. Also, do not take scallops from a reef unless they are abundant. If there are only a handful of scallops on a particular reef, leave them to propagate.

There are two philosophies on how to harvest scallops, each with its good and weak points. The way I prefer is to take the animal, its shell and all. It is a bit more work trying to unfasten a firmly affixed shell, but when transporting the scallops home, they will stay fresh and alive for several hours until you can get home to clean them in the best way possible and cook them fresh out of the shell.

To “catch” your prize you’ll need to pry the scallops from the reef. It takes some practice learning the right leverage working the base of the scallop but you’ll get it. If you can’t break the scallop free after a minute of trying, move on or, if you want, try the technique mentioned below. Sometimes the scallops will be right out in the open and can be dislodged with just a firm butt with the palm of your hand.

The disadvantage with taking the scallop, shell and all, is you are bringing home a small part of the reef. Tiny animals make their home on the outer shell. Try to gently brush them free before you bring the scallops to the surface. Make sure another scallop is not attached to the scallop you are taking. Sometimes they “piggy-back.” This individual catch will be counted two scallops by the Fish and Game officer, so be careful in your count. Also, when you are gathering scallops, shell and all, during the dive, 10 rock scallops can be quite heavy. Divers have gotten themselves into trouble with the excess weight. To take scallops with this technique you will need a pry bar, usually a big, sturdy dive knife with blunt tip, and a heavy duty goodie-bag. When carrying the goodie-bag, clip it only to your weight belt, never your BC.

The second technique is to remove the useful meat from the animal where it sits, right on the reef, leaving the shell intact. By taking just the meat, you’ll be dragging around less weight. The problems with this technique is that it is difficult to clean the scallop properly on the bottom. Some meat will be wasted. Also, you will usually have to cut the useful meat in half to extract it, resulting in two buttons of meat instead of just one if the scallop is cleaned carefully on the surface. If you are inspected by a Fish and Game officer, they count either whole scallops in the shell or buttons of meat. If you take two buttons of meat from one scallop, it will be counted as two, not one. Do the math. This technique could reduce your limit by half. For hunting scallops this way, you’ll need a thin, sharp but sturdy knife and a small goodie-bag.

The part of the scallop that you will want to eat is the large, cream colored abductor muscle at the center of the scallop. To extract this portion, insert a sharp thin knife into the scallop (there will be a small hole to one side) and sweep the knife across the inside of the shell, cutting the abductor muscle. It will now pop open. Force it open the remainder of the way with your hands, and clear the viscera away from the meat “button” in the middle. There will be a button on both sides of shell. A rinse, and you have your tasty chunk of one of California’s finest ocean delicacies. Try it raw. It’s fantastic! Or just saute them lightly in butter — it’s some of the best eating in the world!

Recipe: Champagne Scallops
10 fresh scallop buttons
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup champagne
linguine

Dip scallop buttons in eggs and then flour them liberally. Saute in butter in a moderately hot, deep fry pan (cast iron is best) until scallops are opaque. Do not over cook. Pour in champagne and stir until a thickened sauce forms. Remove from heat, salt and pepper to taste and pour over linguine

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