I looked again and really cant generalize. As I noted earlier, I have
shells with 1-12 white ribs, in some there are contiguous white ribs,
but the distribution varies,  and in some the colored ribs are single
ribs...spread out in a rayed network ....the distribution of the
single rib  rays also varies, but some from the same locality do look
similar. That may be a local phenomenon.

the beach I referred to is Cedar Beach County Park, in Southold , on
the way to Orient (Cornell has a marine lab there, the scallop beach
is just beyond)

the big shells pictured by Marlo are from along Route 25  seawall in
East Marion, on the way there too.

other good scallop sites are Orient Beach State Park, the beach by the
Orient Point Ferry, and the beach by the Shelter Island Ferry Slip. I
am sure many other sites are productive this time of the year, those
are the ones we visit most.

In recent years, I have been finding live scallops regularly on the
bay side of Jones Beach State Park, which was unheard of in the era of
the brown tides. There were no rayed specimens if I recall correctly
at that location.

The local authority on bay scallops is Steve Tettlebach at SUNY, I may
have the spelling wrong, but you may find some good information in his
publications.

The genetics are complex...you had the original Peconic Bay
populations, then the brown tide in the 1980s  took them out and stock
from Massachusetts was supposedly brought in to help restore local
populaitons, meanwhile those massachusetts stocks are being all messed
around genetically by interbreeding with the genetically engineered
pretty variants pictured on Marlo's website from Fairhaven. Those are
not natural colors!!

For those of you who peruse the www.shellauction.net, these are now
showing up from the chinese dealers as well, from that part of the
world, where I assume they are being farmed?.  What a mess
genetically.

On 10/23/11, David N. Posnett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Great!  Are the patterns usually the same?  E.g. center white rib,
> +4, -4, etc.  I have 3 specimens and they each have this pattern.
> BTW where is your favorite scallop beach?  You are on Long Island,
> right?
> David
>
> I can send you a picture...
>
>
>>HI David,
>>
>>While a picture is always worth 1000 words your shell is  certainly
>>one of the better extreme colorful variations of irradians irradinas.
>>Using your descriptive method, I checked my collection and noted
>>specimens with anywhere from 1 to 12 white ribs , in the latter  the
>>white ribs are continguous, as you note, forming white patches so that
>>the shell looks more light than dark. If you can find enough specimens
>>there will often be a few of the white rayed variety. Last year in
>>December three of us went to our favorite scallop beach, where
>>thousands of individuals were washed ashore. I would estimate that
>>maybe one out of every 100 had white rays? its hard to put a number on
>>it since we have "trained" ourselves to focus on  the most unusual
>>color or pattern variations.
>>
>>Along with the pattern you describe, we try for shells that are solid
>>white on both valves, or even better, solid yellow (the "lemon scallop
>>of the north").
>>
>>Steve
>>
>>
>>
>>On 10/23/11, David N. Posnett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>  I read there were about 350 species of scallops.  I have a spotted a
>>>  variety that seems rare on our Long Island, NY, beaches.  It has 21
>>>  ribs. While most of the shell is brown, the center rib is entirely
>>>  white, -4 and +4 from the center are also white in the distal
>>>  portion, and so are ribs -7,-8,-9 and +7,+8,+9.  Can anyone identify
>>>  this species?  Thanks.
>>>
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>
> --
> David N. Posnett, MD
> Prof. of Medicine
> Weill Medical College of Cornell Univ.
> Div. of Hematology Oncology
> 1300 York Ave
> New York, NY 10021
>
> Fax 212 746 8866
>
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