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.
Bivalvia or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of aquatic molluscs that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consisting of a hinged pair of half-shells known as valves. As a group, bivalves have no head and lack some typical molluscan organs such as the radula and the odontophore. Their gills have evolved into ctenidia, specialised organs for feeding and breathing.
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 south through parts of the West Indies to Venezuela. 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 19th century and is common in Pearl Harbor.
Crassostrea is a genus of true oysters containing some of the most important oysters used for food.
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.
Perkinsus marinus is a species of alveolate belonging to the phylum Perkinsozoa. It is similar to a dinoflagellate. It is known as a prevalent pathogen of oysters, causing massive mortality in oyster populations. The disease it causes is known as dermo or perkinsosis, and is characterized by the degradation of oyster tissues. The genome of this species has been sequenced.
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.
Saccostrea glomerata is an oyster species belonging to the family Ostreidae.
Ostrea is a genus of edible oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Ostreidae, the oysters.
Ostrea edulis, commonly known as the European flat oyster, is a species of oyster native to Europe. In Great 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.
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.
Bonamia ostreae is a parasitic rhizarian that can cause lethal infections in shellfish, particularly the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis. Infection in oysters rarely results in clinical signs of disease and often the only indication of the infection is increased mortality. The Australian flat oyster, Ostrea angasi, has been infected with two similar Bonamia parasites, Bonamia exitiosa and B. roughleyi.
Saccostrea cucullata, the hooded oyster or Natal rock oyster, is a species of rock oyster found mainly in the Indo-Pacific Ocean.
Ostrea stentina is a species of oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Ostreidae, the oysters.
The Suminoe oyster, is a species of true oyster which inhabits intertidal hard grounds and substrate, as well as muddy creeks of warm estuaries throughout the western Pacific. It is large and flat in appearance and almost identical in gross morphology to Crassostrea virginica.
Magallana is a genus of true oysters containing some of the most important oysters used for food. Species in this genus have been moved from Crassostrea after it was found to be paraphyletic.
Magallana bilineata, commonly known as the Philippine cupped oyster or slipper oyster, is an economically important species of true oyster found abundantly in the western Pacific Ocean, from the Philippines to Tonga and Fiji. In 2020 an exotic population was discovered in north-east Australia. They grow attached to hard objects in brackish shallow intertidal or subtidal waters, at depths of 0 to 300 metres. They are cultured extensively in the Philippines, where annual landings can range from 11,700 to 18,300 tons. They are known as talaba or talabang tsinelas in Filipino to distinguish them from talabang kukong kabayo
The Iwagaki oyster, is an oyster native to Japan. It was first described in 1934.
Magallana sikamea, also known as the Kumamoto oyster or colloquially the Kumie or Kumo, is a species of edible true oyster native to the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has been introduced to many other locations to be farmed commercially for food.
