Oysters are up to 15 cm large and is a wide mussel with round irregular shells and a leafy surface. It is usually the invasive Pacific sister that you find in large quantities in the Wadden Sea and this can be as much as 40 cm in length. It is extremely hardy and can be up to 30 years old. The vaulted base form the bottom and the surface form the lid. Oysters live by filtering plankton from the sea water and a single oyster is able to filter 12 liters of water per hour, which means they grow rapidly with the large amount of nutrients that run through the mussel. A female oyster puts between 20 and 100 million eggs per year. If you collect oysters on the beach at low tide it is said that you “pick” oysters.
Did you know that:
You can find pearls in oysters that are formed when the mussel feels a foreign element that is bothering it under the shell. Then it encapsulates the foreign element in mother-of-pearl so that the surface becomes smooth and fine and does not bother it any more – it becomes a pearl.
