Ostrea edulis

Ostrea edulis
Ostrea edulis – exterior of "left" valve
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Superphylum:	Lophotrochozoa
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Bivalvia
Subclass:	Pteriomorphia
Order:	Ostreoida
Suborder:	Ostreina
Superfamily:	Ostreoidea
Family:	Ostreidae
Genus:	Ostrea
Species:	O. edulis
Binomial name
Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, 1758[1][2]

'Belons' from Cancale, Brittany

Ostrea edulis is a species of oyster native to Europe and commonly known as the European flat oyster, Colchester native oyster, mud oyster, or edible oyster (despite this latter name it is not the only oyster that is edible by humans). When mature O. edulis adults range from 3.8 to 11 centimetres (1.5 to 4.3 in) across.^[3] The species naturally ranges along the western and southern coasts of Europe from Norway to Morocco and including most of the British Isles and the Mediterranean coast.^[4] Naturally viable populations have appeared in eastern North America from Maine to Rhode Island subsequent to artificial introduction in the 1940s and 1950s.^[4]

Ostrea edulis is now also being maricultured in the states of California, Maine, and Washington in the United States. The species once dominated European oyster production but disease, pollution, and overfishing sharply reduced the harvest.^[4] Today Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, account for more than 75 percent of Europe’s oyster production.

Worldwide O. edulis harvest in tonnes, 1950-2003

U.S. oyster growers farm O. edulis in small quantities on both coasts. They are prized for their unique tannic seawater flavor, sometimes described as dry and metallic, and are more expensive than other American oysters.^[4] The flavor is considered excellent for eating raw on the half shell.^[5][6] In France the species has an AOC classification - only oysters harvested from the Bélon River in Brittany can be called Bélon oysters (French: Huîtres de Bélon. ^{[citation needed]}

Ostrea edulis; a) labial palpi b) gills c) mantle d) junction of the two folds of the mantle e) large adductor muscle f) the shell

See also

• Locmariaquer#History of oyster farming

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ostrea edulis.

• UK Biodiversity Action Plan

v t e Edible mollusks Bivalves Clams Atlantic jackknife Atlantic surf Geoduck Grooved carpet shell Hard clam Horse Mactra stultorum Blunt gaper Ocean quahog Pacific razor Venus California butterclam Senilia senilis Smooth clam Soft-shell Triangle shell Tuatua Japanese littleneck Razor clam Pod razor Ensis (razor genus) Paphies Cockles Common Blood Goolwa New Zealand Mussels Blue Mediterranean New Zealand green-lipped California Brown Asian/Philippine green Date Mytilidae (mussel family) Oysters Auckland Eastern Olympia Southern mud Colchester native Pacific Portuguese Windowpane Rock Sydney rock Ostra chilena/Bluff Gillardeau oysters Crassostrea ("true oyster" genus) Scallops Atlantic bay Great/king New Zealand Pecten jacobaeus Peruvian calico Yesso Gastropods Abalone White Red Black Green Pink Blacklip Green ormer Pāua (group of three species) Chilean Conches Queen Dog Limpets Black-foot opihi/Hawaiian Turtle/talc Yellow-foot opihi China Common European Rayed Mediterranean Ribbed Mediterranean Rustic Periwinkles Common Banded Littorina sitkana Whelks Common Kellet's Knobbed Lightning Channeled Other snails Sea Mud-flat Korean mud Chorus giganteus Land Helix aspersa Helix lucorum Helix pomatia Freshwater Nerites Inkfish Cuttlefish Spineless Bottletail Octopus Common Atlantic white-spotted Big blue Pacific giant Southern red Amphioctopus fangsiao Squid New Zealand arrow Japanese flying Humboldt Neon flying Chitons Chiton magnificus Acanthopleura granulata Related topics Oyster farming Land snail farming Gastropod anatomy Bivalve anatomy