Clam vs. Scallop — What's the Difference?

A bivalve mollusk that burrows in the sand and filters water for food.

A bivalve mollusk capable of swimming by opening and closing its shell.

An animal that can produce pearls in certain species.

A seafood delicacy known for its sweet, tender meat.

A popular seafood item typically served steamed or in chowders.

An animal that lives freely on the seabed or attaches to objects.

A creature characterized by its two shells and sedentary lifestyle.

An organism that feeds by filtering plankton and other particles from the water.

An organism that moves using a muscular "foot" for burrowing.

A creature characterized by its fan-like shell pattern.

Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds.

Scallop () is a common name that is primarily applied to any one of numerous species of saltwater clams or marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related families within the superfamily Pectinoidea, which also includes the thorny oysters.

A marine bivalve mollusc with shells of equal size.

An edible bivalve mollusc with a ribbed fan-shaped shell. Scallops swim by rapidly opening and closing the shell valves.

A dollar.

Each of a series of convex rounded projections forming an ornamental edging cut in material or worked in lace or knitting in imitation of the edge of a scallop shell

Dig for or collect clams

Another term for escalope

Abruptly stop talking

Ornament (an edge or material) with scallops

Any of various usually burrowing marine and freshwater bivalve mollusks chiefly of the subclass Heterodonta, including members of the families Veneridae and Myidae, many of which are edible.

Gather or dredge for scallops

The soft edible body of such a mollusk.

Bake with milk or a sauce

(Informal) A close-mouthed person, especially one who can keep a secret.

Any of various marine bivalve mollusks of the family Pectinidae, having fan-shaped shells with a radiating fluted pattern.

(Slang) A dollar

The edible adductor muscle of a scallop.

A clamp or vise.

A shell of a scallop, or a dish in a similar shape, used for baking and serving seafood.

To hunt for clams.

One of a series of curved projections forming an ornamental border.

A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example pl=s (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

See escalope.

Strong pincers or forceps.

To edge (cloth, for example) with a series of curved projections.

A kind of vise, usually of wood.

To bake in a casserole with milk or a sauce and often with bread crumbs

A dollar.

To cut (meat) into thin boneless slices.

A Scientologist.

To gather scallops for eating or sale.

A vagina.

Any of various marine bivalve molluscs of the family Pectinidae which are free-swimming.

(slang) In musicians' parlance, a wrong or misplaced note.

One of a series of curves, forming an edge similar to a scallop shell, especially in knitting and crochet.

(informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.

(cooking) A fillet of meat, escalope.

Mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)

(cooking) A form of fried potato.

Clamminess; moisture

A dish shaped like a scallop shell.

To dig for clams.

To create or form an edge in the shape of a crescent or multiple crescents.

To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

(transitive) To bake in a casserole (gratin), originally in a scallop shell; especially used in form scalloped

To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

(intransitive) To harvest scallops

To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Any one of numerous species of marine bivalve mollusks of the genus Pecten and allied genera of the family Pectinidæ. The shell is usually radially ribbed, and the edge is therefore often undulated in a characteristic manner. The large adductor muscle of some the species is much used as food. One species (Vola Jacobæus) occurs on the coast of Palestine, and its shell was formerly worn by pilgrims as a mark that they had been to the Holy Land. Called also fan shell. See Pecten, 2.

Clammy.

One of series of segments of circles joined at their extremities, forming a border like the edge or surface of a scallop shell.

A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; as, the long clam (Mya arenaria), the quahog or round clam (Venus mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species of the United States. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

One of the shells of a scallop; also, a dish resembling a scallop shell.

Strong pinchers or forceps.

To bake in scallop shells or dishes; to prepare with crumbs of bread or cracker, and bake. See Scalloped oysters, below.

A kind of vise, usually of wood.

One of a series of rounded projections (or the notches between them) formed by curves along an edge (as the edge of a leaf or piece of cloth or the margin of a shell or a shriveled red blood cell observed in a hypertonic solution etc.)

Claminess; moisture.

Edible muscle of mollusks having fan-shaped shells; served broiled or poached or in salads or cream sauces

A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.

Thin slice of meat (especially veal) usually fried or broiled

To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Edible marine bivalve having a fluted fan-shaped shell that swim by expelling water from the shell in a series of snapping motions

To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

Decorate an edge with scallops;

To produce, in bell ringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

Form scallops in;

Burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud

Fish for scallops

A piece of paper money worth one dollar

Shape or cut in scallops;

Flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams

Gather clams, by digging in the sand by the ocean

A clam is a bivalve mollusk that typically burrows in sand and filter-feeds.

Yes, both have two shells that protect their soft bodies.

Scallops can "swim" by rapidly opening and closing their shells.

A scallop is a bivalve mollusk that can swim and lives freely on the seabed.

Clams move by using a muscular "foot" mainly for burrowing.

Clams usually live burrowed in sand or mud.

Yes, both are filter-feeders that consume plankton and other small particles.

Usually, the muscle of the clam is consumed.

Yes, both are popular and have distinct flavors and textures.

Scallops are usually found on the seabed and can be free-swimming or attached to objects.

Yes, scallop shells have a distinct fan-like pattern.

The adductor muscle is the primary part eaten in scallops.

No, clams are generally sedentary and remain in one place.

Yes, some species of clams can produce pearls.

Yes, scallops are more mobile and can move by "swimming."