

Because of this, it is technically possible for an oyster to fertilize its own eggs. While some oysters have two sexes (European oyster and Olympia oyster), their reproductive organs contain both eggs and sperm.

There is no evidence that oysters have a brain. Their nervous system includes two pairs of nerve cords and three pairs of ganglia. At the same time, two kidneys, located on the underside of the muscle, remove waste products from the blood. A small, three-chambered heart, lying under the adductor muscle, pumps colorless blood to all parts of the body. In addition to their gills, oysters can exchange gases across their mantles, which are lined with many small, thin-walled blood vessels. Because of its good flavor, it commands high prices. In the Philippines, a local thorny oyster species known as Tikod amo is a favorite seafood source in the southern part of the country.

Other types Ī number of bivalve molluscs (other than true oysters and pearl oysters) also have common names that include the word "oyster", usually because they either taste like or look somewhat like true oysters, or because they yield noticeable pearls.
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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. In three to seven years, the oyster can produce a perfect pearl. Pearl farmers can culture a pearl by placing a nucleus, usually a piece of polished mussel shell, inside the oyster. The many different types, colours and shapes of pearls depend on the natural pigment of the nacre, and the shape of the original irritant. Over the years, the irritating object is covered with enough layers of nacre to become a pearl. In nature, pearl oysters produce pearls by covering a minute invasive object with nacre. Not all individual oysters produce pearls naturally. The largest pearl-bearing oyster is the marine Pinctada maxima, which is roughly the size of a dinner plate. Both cultured pearls and natural pearls can be extracted from pearl oysters, though other molluscs, such as the freshwater mussels, also yield pearls of commercial value. Pearl oysters are not closely related to true oysters, being members of a distinct family, the feathered oysters ( Pteriidae). Pearls can form in both saltwater and freshwater environments. Pearl oysters Īlmost all shell-bearing mollusks can secrete pearls, yet most are not very valuable. Ostreidae evolved in the Early Triassic epoch: The genus Liostrea grew on the shells of living ammonoids. Examples include the European flat oyster, eastern oyster, Olympia oyster, Pacific oyster, and the Sydney rock oyster. This family includes the edible oysters, which mainly belong to the genera Ostrea, Crassostrea, Ostreola, Magallana, and Saccostrea. True oysters are members of the family Ostreidae. The French derived from the Latin ostrea, the feminine form of ostreum, which is the latinisation of the Ancient Greek ὄστρεον ( ostreon) 'oyster'. During the low tide, ROBS are placed on an abandoned oyster lease.The word oyster comes from Old French oistre, and first appeared in English during the 14th century. The oysters are collected and taken to a vacant site at the Port of Brisbane, where volunteers place them in mounds open to the elements.Īfter about a year, they are washed, placed in cages, affectionately named ROBS (robust oyster baskets), and are taken to Brisbane's Moreton Bay. "When my kids were young, and I brought them up here there wasn't a lot of fish in the passage." How does it work? "I remember coming out here and being able to go fishing and take home a nice big bucket of whiting or something like that," he said. Joondubarri man, Phill Kruse, is involved with the reef restoration in the Pumicestone Passage and has frequented the area since he was a child. In Queensland, the numbers are smaller but no less impressive.ĭr Gilby said where reefs have been recreated on the Sunshine Coast, fish diversity and abundance have risen more than sixteen-fold in about three years. During the low tide, ROBS are placed on an abandoned oyster lease.
