Last week we learned about a few clams, which along with scallops and oysters, are in the family known as bivalve mollusks. They are all water creatures which live in shells with two parts, called valves.
One unusual feature about a scallop is its ability to swim by jet propulsion. It takes water in through the large, curved opening of its shell and shoots it out the back, propelling itself rapidly through the water. To do this rapid movement, it uses a large muscle called an adductor muscle to open and shut its shell. That large muscle is what we know as the “scallop” that is such a favorite with seafood lovers. It is the only part of the scallop that is eaten in the United States, though other countries also eat the mantle of the scallop.
Around the edge of its mantle, the scallop has about 200 eyes. These are not as developed as our eyes, but are mostly for detecting light and darkness. This helps it to detect predators and also to judge the quality of the water. The scallop’s food is mostly plankton, which it filters out of the water.
Oysters, found in most of the world’s oceans, have their own way of life. Like scallops, they do not burrow as clams do, but remain on the bottom or cling to some solid object. They obtain microscopic food particles from the water passing over them.
Beautiful pearls, found in oysters, are the result of something that bothers the oyster, like sand, getting inside the shell. The oyster relieves this irritation by covering the grain of sand with nacre (a substance called mother-of-pearl). As the layers of nacre build up, they eventually produce a lovely pearl. Pearls come in many different colors, depending on the oyster, the quality of the water and a few other things. The exact reasons for all the pearl colors are still not known, however. Some of the pearl colors are white, cream, pink, yellow, green, chocolate, blue, gold, silver, lavender, black and gray.
Huge pearls make up the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem, as we see in Revelation 21:21,21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21) which says, “The twelve gates were twelve pearls.” Can you imagine a pearl big enough to walk through? There they are a picture of the beauty that the Lord Jesus sees in His people and will show to the whole world. As you look at another Christian, try to see the beauty of Christ in them! We may only see something that bothers us, like the grain of sand bothers an oyster. But God sees them perfect in Christ, and He wants us to see that in them too.
Did You Know?
Around the edge of its mantle, the scallop has about 200 eyes.
Messages of God’s Love 1/21/2024