Annual growth rates of Antarctic marine organisms are low compared to their relatives from warmer waters. Previous studies hypothesise that high food availability during austral spring-summer may enable Antarctic invertebrates to attain comparatively high short-term growth rates despite the low temperature. Neither a temperature-growth experiment with juvenile Adamussium colbecki (Smith 1902) nor the comparison of A. colbecki summer growth rates with an empirical scallop specific growth-to-temperature relationship could confirm this hypothesis. Hence, summer growth rates of young, immature A. colbecki are strongly affected by temperature, i.e. no "uncoupling" from temperature. © Springer-Verlag 2005.