15 Oyster Facts for National Oyster Day
We obviously never need an excuse to celebrate oysters, but August 5 is one of our favorite days here at Grit & Grace Studio because it’s National Oyster Day!
Shucked, grilled, roasted, or gilded and holding your beloved jewelry, we’re simply mad about oysters. We are taking a break from painting our oyster jewelry dishes to share a few fascinating oyster facts and spread some knowledge about our favorite mollusks.
We hope you join us in celebrating National Oyster Day, whether that means a night out with your girls at one of our favorite Charleston raw bars, splurging on a Coastal Calm necklace, or volunteering at one of SCORE’s oyster reef restoration projects around the Lowcountry.
15 Oyster Facts to Kick off National Oyster Day
Oysters appeared in the Triassic period.
Did you know oysters once measured 12 feet in length? Oysters date back 200 million years ago, to the Triassic period. They grew on new coral reefs at shallow depths and eventually evolved into the smaller, reef-forming creatures we know and love today.
Humans have been enjoying oysters for 164,000 years, according to archaeologists.
Author Jonathan Swift once mused, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster,” but actually, humans have been savoring oysters since the Mesolithic period.
While it was originally theorized that humans pried open the shells with rocks, archaeologists discovered marks consistent with fire scorch marks, suggesting humankind dined on roasted oysters long before oysters on the half shell (or oysters Rockefeller).
Oysters are bivalves.
“What’s a bivalve?” you ask. Bivalves belong to the class of animals called Bivalvia, a class of marine and freshwater mollusks with laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts, allowing for the shells to open and close. Oysters, clams, cockles, mussels, and scallops are all bivalves!
The Romans first cultured oyster reefs 2,000 years ago.
We actually have the Roman Empire to thank for the invention of oyster farming: they collected seed stock near the mouth of the Adriatic Sea and transported it back to Italy for cultivation. These oysters, known as Native Oysters, are commonly found in Roman archaeological digs.
Oysters were a common food for the working class.
Once prized by the Romans, oysters lost some of their foodie status in the early 19th century. The working class used oysters as a substitute for beef, and the Victorian lower classes regularly enjoyed oyster pie as a go-to meal. City streets were lined with oyster establishments back in the day.
Overharvesting and disease reduced oyster populations worldwide, making them a delicacy again.
When the demand for oysters outstripped the supply in New York early in the 20th century, oystermen introduced foreign oyster species in an attempt to restock the supply. Unfortunately, this also introduced disease, and increasing sedimentation from erosion destroyed most of New York’s oyster reefs.
Oysters are a healthy food!
If you’ve never looked up oyster nutritional facts, you now have even more reasons to dig into your favorite oyster dish.
Oysters are rich in zinc, iron, calcium, selenium, vitamin A, and vitamin B12.
They’re also a wonderful source of protein while being low in calories, so order up a full dozen to celebrate National Oyster Day!
There are 5 different species of oysters.
While there are more than 150 varietals of oysters, there are only 5 species harvested in North America: Pacific oysters, Kumamoto oysters, Atlantic oysters, European oysters, and Olympia oysters. Each species does have its own characteristics, but the variations in flavor are due to their local habitats.
Oysters form reefs.
Juvenile oysters, or oyster spat, need a hard substrate to attach to in order to mature. Mature oyster shells offer “settlement cues” for these free-floating spat, and oysters attach to each other to form reefs as they grow and develop.
Oysters filter water.
Did you know an adult oyster can filter a whopping 50 gallons of water per day?
Oysters filter the water to obtain food, but they also filter out sediment and pollutants by consuming them or shaping them into small packets that they deposit onto the sand.
The oyster reefs in Harris Creek, Maryland, remove an amount of nitrogen equivalent to an estimated 20,000 bags of fertilizer each year.
Oysters make pearls.
Each lustrous pearl actually started as a piece of grit or irritant.
The irritant slips between one of the oyster’s shells and the mantle, the protective layer that covers the oyster’s organs, and the oyster quickly begins to encapsulate the intruder with layer upon layer of nacre, a protective mineral substance.
The layers of nacre continue to build up to form a pearl, over time.
Oyster reefs provide habitat.
Oyster reefs create habitats for hundreds of other species. Oysters provide clean, filtered water, and oyster reefs offer shelter for marine species such as mussels, barnacles, and sea anemones.
They also provide habitat for foraging fish, invertebrates, and other shellfish, as well as providing a “safe nursery for commercially valuable species, including anchovies, blue crab, croaker, flounder, herring, menhaden, shrimp, silver perch,” and others.
Oyster reefs prevent floods and erosion.
Oyster reefs buffer wave energy and promote sediment deposits, allowing seagrass areas and marshes to form, which helps prevent floods and erosion. They also act as a natural breakwater because their physical structure absorbs the force of the waves against incoming storms and the resulting erosion. Studies from the Gulf of Mexico indicate that oyster reefs are capable of reducing the energy of high power waves by as much as 76 to 93 percent.
An estimated 85% of oyster reefs have been lost globally.
According to the Nature Conservancy, “Today, oyster reefs are considered one of the planet’s most imperiled marine habitats. Over the last two centuries, more than 85 percent of the world’s oyster reefs have been lost.”
Overharvesting, pollution, disease, and failure to return oyster shells to the water after consumption all factor heavily into this decline.
Oyster recycling restores oyster reefs.
Though the depletion of oyster reefs is critical, there is hope.
Oyster shell recycling is a powerful, effective way to restore oyster reefs and marine habitats. Oyster shells from restaurants and events must be quarantined and then returned to the water to promote the formation of new reefs.
How can you help? If you’ve got a hankering for oysters, ask your local area raw bar if they recycle before you make that reservation. You can also look for opportunities to volunteer to rebuild oyster reefs (you’ll work up an appetite with all that manual labor, we promise!), and support businesses committed to oyster shell recycling.
Grit & Grace Studio is the only oyster shell dish producer that recycles 10 oyster shells for each oyster product sold. Since day one, our company has proudly maintained an in-house oyster shell recycling program that partners with local area restaurants and SCDNR.
To date, we have recycled more than 5,000 gallons of oyster shells back to the Charleston area waters since 2016.
Celebrate National Oyster Day with your own oyster shell dish or necklace. Shop now: The World is Your Oyster!
One Love & Blessings,