| Eastern Oyster | ||||||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Crassostrea virginica | ||||||||||||||||
The Eastern Oyster is found from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. It has been introduced elsewhere but does not always thrive (for example, a colony in San Francisco Bay died out).
Like all oysters, Crassostrea virginica is a hard shellfish that comes in several different sizes, usually 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 inches) long. It has hard edges that supply a tough shield against predators. They are popular on the market, so much so that only 1% remain of their original numbers when the early colonists came to America during the sixteenth century.
Many people don't realize that these particular type of oysters have an important environmental value. Like all oysters, Crassostrea virginica is a filter feeder. They suck in water and filter out the plankton and detritus to swallow, then spit the water back out, thus cleaning the water around them and getting rid of much of eastern Chesapeake Bay's notorious water pollution.
People catch and eat these oysters, mainly in the spring, and (in Maryland) catch about 35-40,000 bushels of oysters a year. This has resulted in the decline of the numbers of C. virginica.
The Eastern Oysters, like all members of the family Ostreidae, can make small pearls to surround particles that enter the shell. However these pearls are insignificant in size and of no value; the Pearl Oyster, from which commercial pearls are harvested, is of a different family.