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.
Mussel is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.
Bivalvia, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. Bivalves as a group have no head and they lack some usual molluscan organs like the radula and the odontophore. They include the clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, and numerous other families that live in saltwater, as well as a number of families that live in freshwater. The majority are filter feeders. The gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing. Most bivalves bury themselves in sediment where they are relatively safe from predation. Others lie on the sea floor or attach themselves to rocks or other hard surfaces. Some bivalves, such as the scallops and file shells, can swim. The shipworms bore into wood, clay, or stone and live inside these substances.
The eastern oyster —also called the Atlantic oyster, American oyster, or East Coast oyster—is a species of true oyster native to eastern North and South America. Other names in local or culinary use include the Wellfleet oyster, Virginia oyster, Malpeque oyster, Blue Pointoyster, Chesapeake Bay oyster, and Apalachicola oyster. C. virginica ranges from northern New Brunswick through parts of the West Indies and south to Brazil. It is farmed in all of the Maritime provinces of Canada and all Eastern Seaboard and Gulf states of the United States, as well as Puget Sound, Washington, where it is known as the Totten Inlet Virginica. It was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in the nineteenth century and is common in Pearl Harbor.
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 Pacific oyster, Japanese oyster, or Miyagi oyster, is an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia. It has become an introduced species in North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand.
Oyster farming is an aquaculture practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Romans as early as the 1st century BC on the Italian peninsula and later in Britain for export to Rome. The French oyster industry has relied on aquacultured oysters since the late 18th century.
Ostrea is a genus of edible oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Ostreidae, the oysters.
Freshwater bivalves are one kind of freshwater mollusc, along with freshwater snails. They are bivalves which live in freshwater, as opposed to saltwater, the main habitat type for bivalves.
Netarts Bay is an estuarine bay on the northern Oregon Coast of the U.S. state of Oregon, located about 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Tillamook. The unincorporated community of Netarts is located on the north end of the bay and Netarts Bay Shellfish Preserve, managed by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, is located on the south side of the bay. The sand spit on the west side of Netarts bay is part of Cape Lookout State Park.
Ostrea conchaphila is a species of oyster, a marine bivalve mollusk which lives on the Pacific coast of Mexico south of Baja California. Until recently there was some confusion as to whether this more southern oyster species might in fact be the same species as Ostrea lurida, the well-known but more northerly "Olympia oyster", which it resembles in shell size and color. Because of this confusion, the name O. conchaphila was sometimes applied to various populations of what is now known to be O. lurida.
Amphibalanus amphitrite is a species of acorn barnacle in the Balanidae family. Its common names include the striped barnacle, the purple acorn barnacle and Amphitrite's rock barnacle. It is found in warm and temperate waters worldwide.
Crassadoma is a genus of rock scallops, marine bivalve molluscs in the family Pectinidae. It is monotypic, the only species being Crassadoma gigantea, the rock scallop, giant rock scallop or purple-hinge rock scallop. Although the small juveniles are free-swimming, they soon become sessile, and are cemented to the substrate. These scallops occur in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
Entovalva nhatrangensis is a species of small marine bivalve mollusc in the family Lasaeidae. It was first described in 2010 and its specific name "nhatrangensis" derives from the locality where it was originally found, Nha Trang Bay in Vietnam. It lives inside the oesophagus of certain species of sea cucumbers. It is considered to be an endosymbiont rather than a parasite because it does not harm its host.
Potamocorbula amurensis is a species of small saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusc in the order Myida. Common names include the overbite clam, the Asian clam, the Amur River clam and the brackish-water corbula. The species is native to marine and brackish waters in the northern Pacific Ocean, its range extending from Siberia to China, Korea and Japan. It has become naturalised in San Francisco Bay.
Pinctada fucata, the Akoya pearl oyster (阿古屋貝), is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pteriidae, the pearl oysters. Some authorities classify this oyster as Pinctada imbricata fucata. It is native to shallow waters in the Indo-Pacific region and is used in the culture of pearls.
Pteria penguin, commonly known as the penguin's wing oyster, is a species of marine bivalve mollusc in the family Pteriidae, the pearl oysters. It is native to the western and central Indo-Pacific region and is used for the production of cultured pearls. The generic name comes from Greek πτερον (pteron) meaning wing.
The term oyster reef refers to dense aggregations of oysters that form large colonial communities. Because oyster larvae need to settle on hard substrates, new oyster reefs may form on stone or other hard marine debris. Eventually the oyster reef will propagate by spat settling on the shells of older or nonliving oysters. The dense aggregations of oysters are often referred to as an oyster reef, oyster bed, oyster bank, oyster bottom, or oyster bar interchangeably. These terms are not well defined and often regionally restricted.
Thousands of years prior to European settlement of the Pacific Northwest of the United States the native oyster species Ostrea lurida had been established as a valuable dietary resource for indigenous people living on the coastal waters. European settlers who began to colonize the Pacific Northwest developed an acquired taste for shellfish, especially oysters, a delicacy that were considered to be a symbol of wealth. In the early history of the Pacific Northwest, people satisfied their hunger for shellfish by harvesting naturally occurring oyster beds. It was initially believed that the populations of indigenous oysters were sufficient to supply both tribal and commercial harvest. A marketable industry was created on the export of oysters and soon exploitation of harvesting had depleted the natural oyster beds in California and Oregon. As a result Washington state became the main supplier to areas along the coast which had failed to establish any conservation practices. Noticing the economic value and decline of natural availability, farmers began efforts to cultivate oysters to try to satisfy demand. Over the years the oyster industry of the Pacific Northwest has gone from extremely lucrative to completely nonexistent, but still the industry has been able to adapt and survive.
Octopus tehuelchus, commonly known as the Patagonian octopus, is a species of octopus, a marine cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. It is native to shallow waters in the subtropical southwestern Atlantic Ocean. It was first described in 1834 by the French naturalist Alcide d'Orbigny.
