The dynamic energy budget (DEB) theory is a mechanistic theory of metabolism that captures the flows of energy and matter throughout the entire lifecycle of an organism. A DEB model of an individual organism describes the rates at which the organism assimilates and utilizes energy for maintenance, growth and reproduction, as functions of the state of the organism and its environment. The purpose of the present paper is to setup a DEB model for Japanese scallop , the main mariculture species of northern China, in order to understand the energy distribution characteristics of the scallop and to analysis the influence of temperature and food availability on its growth and reproduction. The model depends on seawater temperature and food density (chlorophyll-a concentration), as forcing variables. The key DEB parameter values for the scallop were calculated based on previous experiments in our laboratory. We calibrated and validated with stage data for mariculture efforts in Sungo Bay from May to December 2013, and for small-, middle-and large-sized scallop from Changhai, China, from August 2007 to July 2008. The DEB model developed here showed good growth simulations and provided an extensive description of the energetic allocation of throughout its growth span. Meanwhile, it was demonstrated that, in summer, seawater temperature was the main limiting factor for scallop growth. Especially in Sungo Bay, at days 45-125 (nearly 85 days' duration), the value of T-dependence was very low, as scallop growth was limited by water temperature, and the scallop almost ceased to grow at this stage. In Changhai, at days 40-320, food limitation was stronger than the temperature restriction, which proved that mariculture densities might become overloaded. The results of the sensitivity analysis showed the model was relatively sensitive to changes in _AM increased by 10%, the growth of the scallop could be increased by 13%. Therefore, the sensitivity of these parameters can have a great impact on the results of the model, thus it is crucial to have accurate measurements of the parameters.