WHERE DO OYSTERS COME FROM?
From their
MOM of course… Oysters being bivalve mollusks are
hermaphroditic, changing sex, many times in their life cycle, which
can last up to 20 years. During periods of warm water, the
oysters are triggered into the production of gonad to get ready for
spawning. For the other months of the year, the oysters are
mainly glycogen based (vegetable starch) which is what makes them
so sweet. When the oysters go into the spawning cycle, they
are considered “out of season” as the gonads are protein
based. The “spawny” oysters have a different texture and
flavor than when they are “in season”.
Once the
oysters have fully transformed from a culinary delight into a mass
of gonad, horny as well, they release their spawn into the water.
The females release millions of eggs and the boys, do it with
billions of sperm. Now here’s where it gets REAL interesting…
Oysters are
divided up primarily into two different genuses… One being
Crassostrea and the other, Ostrea.
Crassostrea
do it like most other bivalves. The fertilization takes place
in the water making the entire process asexual. The oysters then
grow up on their own, using the minerals and microscopic algae to
grow and thrive.
The
Ostrea on the other hand are sexy critters. The females DO
NOT release their brood into the surround sea but suck in sperm and
the fertilization takes place entirely inside the shell of the
mom. The Mommy then broods her young for about a month before
she kicks them out, leaving them to fend for themselves.
Why do
our oysters not have pearls in them?
We sell only
the oyster meat and the shell… We do not sell the mineral
rights and therefore carefully extract all the pearls before
shipping. You want the PEARLS TOO??? That will be a
whole other price list…
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