NOAA, for this summer’s Oyster Day (August 5th), put together these oyster facts. See the globally recognized research NOAA does with oysters and shellfish.
Oyster Facts
- Oysters clean up the water as they grow.
- Farmed oysters don’t need to be fed – they are filter feeders, filtering phytoplankton, nutrients and particulates from the water.
- Harvesting oysters is a form of bioextraction – it removes excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from the ecosystem.
- Oyster beds and reefs stabilize coastal sediments and can minimize negative impacts of storm surges.
- Oysters are bivalve mollusks of the shellfish family.
- Each female oyster can produce over 100 million eggs during a spawning event.