There are 12 naturally-colored scallops in this album. They're NOT artificially-colored nor hand-painted. They're really this colorful in the wild. Honest. Convince yourself by clicking on the adjacent close-ups. The colors are not on the surface, but rather, occur just underneath their glossy skins. Examine too the intricate texture of the shell surface, an amazing landscape of ridges, tiny shell chutes, and valleys. What a different world right there!

Scallops like these live in deeper water. Although uncommon, they're usually found in very large numbers where they occur. They also come in nearly every color of the rainbow. (Research suggests scallop color variation may be caused by a single gene. Go: Inheritance of the general shell color in the scallop Argopecten purpuratus )

Why a single species needed to be in so many colors, I don’t know. Like the color of our own skin, maybe there is an evolutionary justification. But whatever reason, their beauty strikes awe in our hearts. And lest we forget, infinite variation and mutation in nature is what made life (as we know it today) possible. Enjoy.