Oysters

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Abstract
Among the bivalve mollusks, the oysters (Family Ostreidae) are rather specialized. Adult stages are sedentary and feed by straining the water for small food particles with the aid of a mucus sheet and a complicated and highly efficient ciliary mechanism. Oysters established their peculiar mode of life in Carboniferous times and have survived in large numbers ever since. Many diverse stocks, including peculiar forms and giant types flourished in ancient seas. Possibly a hundred or more species of three genera survive, living in depths from a thousand fathoms to above mean low tide in estuaries along the shores of all continents except Antarctica. The genus Pycnodonte is a purely marine or high salinity group, apparently relatively few in numbers, living from near surface levels to depths of 1000 fathoms. The shells have a peculiar cellular structure which permits tracing of the group to the distant past. The largest modern oysters belong to the genus Crassostrea. Oysters of this genus are estuarine and prolific; they form large reefs in many places, some of which rival coral reefs in area. Oysters of the genus Crassostrea usually flourish in the enclosed waters of bays, but under some circumstances they form reefs outside bays in shallow waters near large rivers, as on the coast of Louisiana. Embryonic and larval development takes place in the water entirely free of the parent. A large commercial production of Crassostrea virginica is centered in Louisiana and in Chesapeake Bay; the combined production of both is as great as...

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