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Photo of the top of an oyster
Crassostrea gigas from the Marennes-Oléron basin in France

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified.




True oysters

True oysters are members of the family Ostreidae. This family includes the edible oysters, which mainly belong to the genera Ostrea, Crassostrea, Ostreola and Saccostrea. Examples include the Belon oyster, eastern oyster, Olympia oyster, Pacific oyster, Sydney rock oyster and the Wellfleet oyster.

True oysters are incapable of making gem quality pearls, although illustrations or photographs sometimes mistakenly pair them with a gem-quality pearl.

Pearl oysters

Removing a pearl from an oyster.

Almost all shell-bearing molluscs can secrete pearls, yet most are not very valuable.



In nature, pearl oysters produce natural pearls by covering a minute invading parasite with nacre, not by ingesting a grain of sand.[1] Over the years, the irritating object is covered with enough layers of nacre to form what is known as a pearl. There are many different types, colours and shapes of pearl; these qualities depend on the natural pigment of the nacre, and the shape of the original irritant.

Pearl farmers can culture a pearl by placing a nucleus, usually a piece of polished mussel shell, inside the oyster. In three to six years, the oyster can produce a perfect pearl. These pearls are not as valuable as natural pearls, but look exactly the same. In fact, since the beginning of the 20th century, when several researchers discovered how to produce artificial pearls, the cultured pearl market has far outgrown the natural pearl market. Natural pearls have become increasingly scarce, and a necklace with only natural pearls can easily cost several hundred thousand US dollars.[2]

Other types of oysters



Oysters are filter feeders, drawing water in over their gills through the beating of cilia. Suspended plankton and particles are trapped in the mucus of a gill, and from there are transported to the mouth, where they are eaten, digested and expelled as faeces or pseudofaeces. Oysters feed most actively at temperatures above 10 °C (50 °F). An oyster can filter up to 5 litres (1.3 US gal) of water per hour. Chesapeake Bay's once flourishing oyster population historically filtered excess nutrients from the estuary's entire water volume every three to four days. Today that would take nearly a year.[3] Excess sediment, nutrients, and algae can result in the eutrophication of a body of water. Oyster filtration can mitigate these pollutants.

In addition to their gills, oysters can also exchange gases across their mantle, which is lined with many small, thin-walled blood vessels. A small, three-chambered heart, lying under the adductor muscle, pumps colorless blood to all parts of the body. At the same time, two kidneys, located on the underside of the muscle, remove waste products from the blood.

While oysters have two sexes, they may change sex one or more times during their life span. Because of this, it is technically possible for an oyster to fertilize its own egg. The gonads surround the digestive organs, and are made up of sex cells, branching tubules and connective tissue. Oysters cannot be sexed by examining the shell.

Habitat and behaviour



As a keystone species, oysters provide habitat for many marine species. Crassostrea and Saccostrea live mainly in the intertidal zone, while Ostrea are subtidal. The hard surfaces of oyster shells and the nooks between the shells provide places where a host of small animals can live. Hundreds of animals such as sea anemones, barnacles, and hooked mussels inhabit oyster reefs. Many of these animals are prey to larger animals, including fish such as striped bass, black drum and croakers.


Oysters usually reach maturity in one year. They are protandric; during their first year they spawn as males by releasing sperm into the water. As they grow over the next two or three years and develop greater energy reserves, they spawn as females by releasing eggs. Bay oysters usually spawn by the end of June. An increase in water temperature prompts a few oysters to spawn. This triggers spawning in the rest, clouding the water with millions of eggs and sperm. A single female oyster can produce up to 100 million eggs annually. The eggs become fertilized in the water and develop into larvae, which eventually find suitable sites, such as another oyster's shell, on which to settle. Attached oyster larvae are called spat. Spat are oysters less than 25 millimetres (0.98 in) long. Many species of bivalve, oysters included, seem to be stimulated to settle near adult conspecifics.

Some tropical oysters in the family Isognomonidae grow best on mangrove roots. Low tide can expose them, making them easy to collect. In Trinidad in the West Indies, tourists are often astounded when they are told that in the Caribbean, "oysters grow on trees."


Marine pollution

Oysters consume nitrogen-containing compounds (nitrates and ammonia), removing them from the water.[4] Nitrogen compounds are important phytoplankton nutrients. Phytoplankton increase water turbidity. Limiting the amount of phytoplankton in the water improves water quality and other marine life by reducing competition for dissolved oxygen. Oysters feed on plankton, incidentally consuming nitrogen compounds as well. They then expel solid waste pellets which decompose into the atmosphere as nitrogen.[1] In Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Program plans to use oysters to reduce the amount of nitrogen compounds entering the Chesapeake Bay by 19,000,000 pounds (8,600,000 kg) per year by 2010.[5]

Human history

Photo of woodland stream with oyster shells covering the streambed
The Whaleback Shell Midden in Maine contains the shells from oyster harvesting for food consumption dating to 2200-1000 years ago


The French seaside resort of Cancale is noted for its oysters, which also date from Roman times. Sergius Orata of the Roman Republic is considered the first major merchant and cultivator of oysters. Using his considerable knowledge of hydraulics, he built a sophisticated cultivation system, including channels and locks, to control the tides. He was so famous for this that the Romans used to say he could breed oysters on the roof of his house.[6]

The world-famous Clarenbridge and Galway Oyster Festivals take place in Galway, Ireland each September. In Ireland it is traditional to eat them live with Guinness and buttered brown soda bread.

In the early 1800s, oysters were cheap and mainly eaten by the working class. Throughout the 19th century, oyster beds in New York harbor became the largest source of oysters worldwide. On any day in the late 19th century, six million oysters could be found on barges tied up along the city’s waterfront. Oysters were naturally quite popular in New York City, and helped initiate the city’s restaurant trade.[7] New York’s oystermen became skilled cultivators of their beds, which provided employment for hundreds of workers and nutritious food for thousands. Eventually, rising demand exhausted many of the beds. To increase production, they introduced foreign species, which brought disease, when combined with effluent and increasing sedimentation from erosion, which destroyed most of the beds by the early 20th century. Oysters’ popularity has put by ever-increasing demands on wild oyster stocks.[8] This scarcity increased prices, converting them from their original role as working class food to their current status as an expensive delicacy.

In the United Kingdom, the native variety is still held to be the finest, requiring five years to mature and protected by an Act of Parliament during the May-August spawning season. The current market is dominated by the larger Pacific oyster and rock oyster varieties which are farmed year round.

Commercial fishing

Fishing from the wild

Oysters are harvested by simply gathering them from their beds. In very shallow waters they can be gathered by hand or with small rakes. In somewhat deeper water, long-handled rakes or oyster tongs are used to reach the beds. Patent tongs can be lowered on a line to reach beds that are too deep to reach directly. In all cases the task is the same: the oysterman scrapes oysters into a pile, and then scoops them up with the rake or tongs.

In some areas a scallop dredge is used. This is a toothed bar attached to a chain bag. The dredge is towed through an oyster bed by a boat, picking up the oysters in its path. While dredges collect oysters more quickly, they heavily damage the beds, and their use is highly restricted. Until 1965 Maryland limited dredging to sailboats, and even since that date motor boats can be used only on certain days of the week. These regulations prompted the development of specialized sailboats (the bugeye and later the skipjack) for dredging.

Oysters can also be collected by divers.


Cultivating oysters

Oyster culture in Belon, France.

Oysters have been cultured for well over a century. Two methods are commonly used, release and bagging. In both cases oysters are cultivated onshore to the size of spat, when they can attach themselves to a substrate. They may be allowed to mature further to form seed oysters. In either case they are then placed in the water to mature. The release technique involves distributing the spat throughout existing oyster beds allowing them to mature naturally to be collected like wild oysters. Bagging has the cultivator putting spat in racks or bags and keeping them above the bottom. Harvesting involves simply lifting the bags or rack to the surface and removing the mature oysters. The latter method prevents losses to some predators, but is more expensive.[9]

The Pacific or Japanese oyster, Crassostrea gigas has been grown in the outflow of mariculture ponds. When fish or prawn are grown in ponds, it takes, typically 10 kilograms (22 lb) of feed to produce 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of product (dry-dry basis). The other 9 kilograms (20 lb) goes into the pond and after mineralization, provides food for phytoplankton, which in turn feeds the oyster.

To prevent spawning, sterile oysters are now cultured by crossbreeding tetraploid and diploid oysters. Because the resulting triploid oyster cannot propagate, spawning does not occur preventing introduced oysters from spreading into unwanted habitats.[10]

Restoration and recovery

In many areas non-native oysters have been introduced in attempts to prop up failing harvests of native varieties. For example, the eastern oyster was introduced to California waters in 1875, while the Pacific oyster was introduced there in 1929.[11] Proposals for further such introductions remain controversial.

The Pacific oyster prospered in Pendrell Sound where the surface water is typically warm enough for spawning in the summer. Over the following years, spat spread out sporadically and populated adjacent areas. Eventually, possibly following adaptation to the local conditions, the Pacific oyster spread up and down the coast and now is the basis of the North American west coast oyster industry. Pendrell Sound is now a reserve that supplies spat for cultivation.[12] Near the mouth of the Great Wicomico River in the Chesapeake Bay, five year-old artificial reefs now harbor more than 180 million native Crassostrea virginica. That is still a far cry from the late 1880s, when the Bay’s population was in the billions, and watermen harvested about 25 million imperial bushels (910,000 m3) annually. The 2009 harvest was less than 200,000 imperial bushels (7,300 m3). Researchers claim that the keys to the project were:

  • using waste oyster shells to elevate the reef floor 10–18 inches (0.25–0.46 m) to keep the spat free of bottom sediments
  • building larger reefs, ranging up to 20 acres (8.1 ha) in size
  • disease resistant broodstock


In 2005, China accounted for 80% of the global oyster harvest.[14] Within Europe, France remained the industry leader.

Oysters as food

Photo of 12 oysters on plate.
Raw oysters presented on a plate.
Oysters served on ice and with a piece of lemon on the side.


Health benefits of eating oysters

Oysters, especially 'wild', are excellent sources of several minerals, including iron, zinc and selenium, which are often low in the modern diet. They are also an excellent source of Vitamin B12. Oysters are considered the healthiest when eaten raw on the half shell.[16]

Preparation and storage

Photo of 2 feet (0.61 m) long open oyster on plate
Giant oyster in southern Angola.
Fried oyster with egg and flour is a common dish in Singapore

Oysters can be eaten on the half shell, raw, smoked, boiled, baked, fried, roasted, stewed, canned, pickled, steamed, broiled or used in a variety of drinks. Preparation widely varies. It can be as simple as opening the shell and eating the contents, including juice. Butter and salt are often added. In the case of oysters Rockefeller, preparation can be very elaborate. They are sometimes served on edible seaweed, such as brown algae.

Perhaps the definitive work on oysters as food is Consider the Oyster, by M. F. K. Fisher[citation needed].


Unlike most shellfish, oysters can have a fairly long shelf-life: up to two weeks; however, their (decreasingly pleasing) taste reflects their age. Oysters should be refrigerated out of water, not frozen and in 100% humidity. Oysters stored in water under refrigeration will open, consume available oxygen and die. Care should be taken when consuming oysters. Purists insist on eating them raw, with no dressing save perhaps lemon juice, vinegar (most commonly shallot vinegar), or cocktail sauce. Upscale restaurants pair raw oysters with a home-made Mignonette sauce, which consists primarily of fresh chopped shallot, mixed peppercorn, dry white wine and lemon juice or sherry vinegar. Like fine wine, raw oysters have complex flavors that vary greatly among varieties and regions: sweet, salty, earthy, or even melon. The texture is soft and fleshy, but crisp on the palate. North American varieties include: Kumamoto and Yaquina Bay from Washington State, Malpeque from Prince Edward Island, Canada, Blue Point from Long Island, New York, and Cape May oysters from New Jersey. Salinity, mineral, and nutrient variations in the water that nurtures them influence their flavor profile.

Non-local oysters are generally expensive. In the United States, oysters are most often cooked, but there is also a high demand for raw oysters on the half-shell (shooters) at oyster bars. Canned smoked oysters are also widely available as preserves with a long shelf life. Raw oysters are still found in many temperate areas bordering a sea or ocean. Oysters are commonly eaten raw in France in bars and as a 'bar fast food' but the home use tends to be mixed with a large usage in cooking - steamed or in paella or soups.

It was once assumed that oysters were only safe to eat in months with the letter ‘r’ in their English and French names. This is a myth whose basis in truth is that in the northern hemisphere oysters are much more likely to spoil in May, June, July, and August.[17]


Cooking oysters in the shell kills the oysters and causes them to open by themselves. Oysters that don't open were dead before cooking and are unsafe.

Oysters can contain harmful bacteria. Oysters are filter feeders and will naturally concentrate anything present in the surrounding water. Oysters from the Gulf Coast of the United States, for example, contain high bacterial loads of human pathogens in the warm months, most notably Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. In these cases, the main danger is for immuno-compromised individuals, who are unable to fight off infection and can succumb to septicemia, leading to death. Vibrio vulnificus is the most deadly seafood-borne pathogen, with a higher case-to-death ratio than even Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli.

Oysters are sometimes cited as an aphrodisiac.[20] It is disputed whether this is true. A team of American and Italian researchers analyzed bivalves and found they were rich in rare amino acids that trigger increased levels of sex hormones.[21] Also oysters have a high zinc content, a mineral that aids in the production of testosterone.[7] Alternatively, the oyster's erotic reputation may only be due to its soft, moist texture and appearance.

Opening oysters

Photo of a rubber-handled steel oyster knife.





Opening, or "shucking" oysters has become a competitive sport. Oyster shucking competitions are staged around the world. Widely acknowledged to be the premiere event, the Guiness World Oyster Opening Championship is held in September at the Galway Oyster Festival, in Galway Ireland.



  • Dermo (Perkinsus marinus) is caused by a protozoan parasite. It is a prevalent pathogen, causes massive mortality and poses a significant economic threat to the oyster industry. The disease is not a direct threat to humans consuming infected oysters.[22] Dermo first appeared in the Gulf of Mexico in the 1950s, and until 1978 it was believed to be caused by a fungus. While it is most serious in warmer waters, it has gradually spread up the east coast of the United States.[23]
  • MSX (Multinucleated Sphere X) is caused by the protozoan Haplosporidium nelsoni, generally seen as a multi-nucleated plasmodium. It is infectious and causes heavy mortality in the Eastern Oyster; survivors, however, develop resistance and can help propagate resistant populations. MSX is associated with high salinity and water temperatures.[22] MSX was first noted in Delaware Bay in 1957 and is now found all up and down the east coast of the United States. Evidence suggests that it was brought to the United States when Crassostrea gigas, a Japanese oyster variety, was introduced to Delaware Bay.[23]

See also


  1. ^ a b "A dozen ocean-cleaners and a pint of Guinness, please". The Economist. Retrieved 2008-12-26. 
  2. ^ Pearl guide
  4. ^ "Oyster Culture is Good for the Environment". East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. Retrieved 2008-12-26. 
  6. ^ Holland, Tom (2003). Rubicon. 
  7. ^ a b c Kurlansky, Mark (2006). The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell.. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-1-588-591-0. 
  8. ^ Clover first=Charles (2004). The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. London: Ebury Press. ISBN 0-09-189780-7. 
  11. ^ Conte, Fred S.. "California Oyster Culture" (PDF). University of California, Davis Department of Animal Science. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  12. ^ "Shellfish Tenures Locations Map". Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  14. ^ {{cite web url= |title=China harvests almost 4m tonnes of oyster in 2005 }}
  16. ^
  17. ^
  18. ^
  19. ^
  20. ^ Stott, Rebecca (2004). "Oyster". The University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2008-01-16. 
  21. ^

External links

1911 encyclopedia

Up to date as of January 14, 2010
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From LoveToKnow 1911

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Simple English

Oyster is the name given to a few bivalves. All of them live in areas that are at least partly covered with water. Some of them are edible. All of them are filter-feeders.


The English Wikibooks has more about this subject:
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