In the estuary, scallops spawn typically in early June, followed by a one- to two-week larval stage where the larvae are free-swimming, and eventually move out of the water column and into beds of eelgrass.
Bay scallops, like hard clams and other shellfish species, are critical for filtering water and as a link in the estuary's food web.
[5] Bay scallops are able to move by closing their two valves and shooting jets of water to propel themselves, unlike most other species of shellfish.
[4] Archeological evidence of Native American communities, including the Shinnecock Indian Nation, harvesting scallops in the Peconic Bays is robust.
[4] Beginning in 1985 and continuing into 1988, a series of harmful blooms of Aureococcus anophagefferens, also known as a brown tide, occurred in the waters around Long Island and decimated scallop populations.
As a result, the marine program at Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) began scallop restoration efforts in the late 1980s that continued into the 1990s.
[12] In addition to the brown tide, scallop researchers suspect the Peconic Bay populations have been decimated by microsporidia, a spore-forming, unicellular parasite.