King scallops, Pecten maximus, dredged off the Yorkshire coast, England UK
Found from northern Norway to the Iberian peninsula and to a lesser extent off West Africa, the king scallop's large shell, flat on one side and convex on the other, has radiating ribs – between 12 and 17 of them – and a colour scheme ranging from reddish-brown through pinks, reds and yellows to white, and has always drawn admirers, not least among pilgrims of St James, one of Christ’s first apostles. The story goes that James had travelled to Spain to preach the gospel but on returning to Jerusalem in AD44, was beheaded by Herod. Though his head stayed in Jerusalem, some of his remains were taken back to Galicia (in a boat of stone, according to one version) and were interred where the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela now stands. The scallop shell, already the Galician emblem, was adopted by his followers, perhaps prompted by another legend that when his remains were being transported, a knight’s horse fell into the water and came up covered in scallops. From the hard seabed off Yorkshire, the dredge brings up scallops and rocks.
Size: 3135px × 2178px
Photo credit: © John Worrall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: commercial, compostella, de, dredge, dredged, england, fish, fishing, james, king, marine, maritime, maxiumus, north, pecten, rocks, santiago, scallops, sea, seafood, shellfish, st, uk, yorkshire
