Oyster By Elizabeth Ortiz Scientific Name The scientific

Oyster By Elizabeth Ortiz

Scientific Name • The scientific name for Oysters are Ostreidae.

Physical Characteristics • • • Oysters are filter eaters. There is no way to figure out if an oyster is male or female by just looking at their shells. They could possibly change sex one or more times during their life span. Oysters breath like fish with gills and mantle. They have a small, three chambered heart, lying under the adductor muscle, pumps colorless blood, with its supply of oxygen, to all parts of the body. They also have two kidneys that purify the blood of any waste products they have collected.

Where do Oysters live? • Oysters are found in estuaries, salt water lagoons, tidal flats and protected areas such as pocket beaches.

How do Oysters reproduce? • Some species of oyster are hermaphrodites, developing both eggs and sperm. The eggs are fertilized within the body and are retained in the gills until larvae are formed, at which time they are released into the water.

What do Oysters eat? • Oysters eat plankton and algae that lives on the surface of the ocean. • Oysters are filter feeders that feed by straining suspended matter and food particles from water.

Pearls • All types of oysters can secrete concretions that are known by biologists as pearls.