Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not all oysters are in the superfamily Ostreoidea.
Crassostrea is a genus of true oysters containing some of the most important oysters used for food. Some species in the genus have been moved to the genus Magallana.
The Ostreidae, the true oysters, include most species of molluscs commonly consumed as oysters. Pearl oysters are not true oysters, and belong to the order Pteriida.
The order Ostreida includes the true oysters. One superfamily (Ostreoidea) and two extant families are recognised within it. The two families are Ostreidae, the true oysters, and Gryphaeidae, the foam oysters.
Pinctada is a genus of saltwater oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Pteriidae. These pearl oysters have a strong inner shell layer composed of nacre, also known as "mother of pearl".
Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae. They are known in English as spiny oysters.
Goniatites is a genus of extinct cephalopods belonging to the family Goniatitidae, included in the superfamily Goniatitaceae. Hibernicoceras and Hypergoniatites are among related genera.
Ostrea edulis, commonly known as the European flat oyster, is a species of oyster native to Europe. In Britain and Ireland, regional names include Colchester native oyster, mud oyster, or edible oyster. In France, Ostrea edulis are known as huîtres plates except for those that come from the Belon River estuary in Brittany, France, which are known as Belons.
The Pteriomorphia comprise a subclass of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs. It contains several major orders, including the Arcida, Ostreida, Pectinida, Limida, Mytilida, and Pteriida. It also contains some extinct and probably basal families, such as the Evyanidae, Colpomyidae, Bakevelliidae, Cassianellidae, and Lithiotidae.
The Gryphaeidae, common name the foam oysters or honeycomb oysters, are a family of marine bivalve mollusks, and are a kind of true oyster. This family of bivalves is very well represented in the fossil record, however the number of living species is very few.
Rock oysters are true oysters of the genus Saccostrea. The best-known species is the Sydney rock oyster.
Zaniolepis is a genus of scorpaeniform fish native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Z. frenata that was a source of food to the Native American inhabitants of San Nicolas Island off the coast of southern California, United States during the Middle Holocene.
Scomber is a genus of fish in the family Scombridae living in the open ocean found in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. The genus Scomber and the genus Rastrelliger comprise the tribe Scombrini, known as the "true mackerels". These fishes have an elongated body, highly streamlined, muscular and agile. The eyes are large, the head is elongated, with a big mouth provided with teeth. They have two dorsal triangular fins, with some stabilizing fins along the caudal peduncle. The basic color is blue-green with a silvery white belly and a darker back, usually black mottled.
Orthogarantiana is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil cephalopods, the ammonites. It lived during the Middle Jurassic.
Oxynoticeratidae is a family of true ammonites included in the superfamily Psiloceratoidea.
Tarasiiformes is an extinct order of prehistoric ray-finned fish.
Lopha is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs in the family Ostreidae.
Agerostrea is an extinct genus of fossil oysters, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Ostreidae, the true oysters. The genus Agerostrea is present in the Maastrichtian, the upper stage of the Late Cretaceous epoch, from 72.1 to 66 million years ago.
Pterotrigonia is an extinct genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Megatrigoniidae. This genus is known in the fossil record from the Jurassic period Tithonian age to the Cretaceous period Maastrichtian age. Species in this genus were facultatively mobile infaunal suspension feeders. The type species of the genus is Pterotrigonia cristata.
