19 Interesting Facts About Oysters

Oysters are not only a delicious, rare, and expensive delicacy that is traditionally served only in good restaurants, they are also amazing creatures that have adapted to an almost immobile lifestyle on the seabed. And not all of them, by the way, are small – there are also really huge ones.

• Oysters get oxygen and food bypassing seawater through their shells.
• Scientists identify about fifty types of oysters. The size of the giant oyster shell reaches 38 cm, although the usual representatives of this genus grow only up to 8-12 cm.
• In comfortable conditions, a female oyster can lay up to half a billion eggs per season.
• Young oysters have a leg with which they move to their future place of residence. On the 72nd day of the mollusk’s life, the leg completely disappears.
• The taste of oysters depends on the salinity of the water in which they are grown. Even the ancient Roman fishermen knew that the mollusks collected in the sea must be kept for some time in a desalinated reservoir – then their meat becomes tasty and tender.
• The minimum salinity for the life of oysters should be 12%.
• At the beginning of the 19th century, the European poor, who could not afford to buy meat for their family, ate oysters. However, fishermen caught shellfish in such quantities that very soon oysters became rare, jumped in price, and became a delicacy for high society.
• Oysters contain a large number of nutrients: magnesium, iodine, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and so on.
• Oysters are dioecious creatures, but if necessary, they can turn from males to females and vice versa several times in a lifetime.
• The outlines of oyster shells are very different, even among individuals within the same species.
• It is widely believed that oysters should not be eaten during the summer months, as they multiply during this period and their meat becomes too fat and unpleasant to taste. The most delicious are oysters caught in May.
• One hundred grams of oysters contains about a quarter of the daily protein requirement for an adult.
• Oysters are eaten alive. It is very simple to check whether the precious clam has deteriorated: just drop it with lemon juice or touch the oyster with the tip of a knife. If the oyster shudders, then it is alive and fit for food.
• The energy value of one hundred grams of oysters is about 95 kcal.
• In ancient Rome, oysters were especially prized for their ability to increase male strength. Modern medicine has proven that the Romans were not mistaken in this regard.
• The favorite of women, Casanova ate 50 oysters every day.
• Pearls can form in oyster shells, but this is quite rare.
• Most of the meat is found in oysters with the smallest shell.
• An opened oyster must be eaten within half an hour, so this clam is not suitable for long feasts.