Eastern oyster
The American oyster ( Crassostrea virginica ) is the second most important oyster with a global market share of 5.1 per cent (2003 ). You say in French oyster Huître ( creuse ) américaine and English American ( cupped ).
Appearance
American oysters are usually oval shaped. The shell is hard but not very angular, while the lower shell is relatively flat. The color is usually gray, sometimes brownish. The oyster is medium in size and can be up to 38 cm in length and 1.3 kg in weight, the commercial size is 8-18 cm.
Dissemination
This oyster is found on the east coast of North America, from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and on to Panama. An important origin is the Chesapeake Bay (USA).
Way of life
The American oyster lives in coastal waters at depths from 0.5 to 75 meters. It requires hard ground, at a pinch it settles on older oysters. She prefers bays and estuaries of rivers, where the salinity of the water is between 5 ‰ and 30 ‰ is.
Commercial use and hazard
The American oyster is rarely produced in aquaculture, the only oyster it is preferably fished (70 %) with abrasions nets from the sea floor. In some regions of North America, the breeding of the American oyster suffers greatly from the attacks, also known as oyster drill snail Urosalpinx cinerea, which can destroy an entire population. In these areas, the young oysters are raised in sheltered basins and exposed before the age of two years in the sea. The shells are then thick enough to withstand the drill oysters.
World's largest producer is the United States with 184,000 tons per year, or 77 percent of world production. Here many oysters are fished in the Chesapeake Bay. This is followed by Mexico (10% ) and Canada ( 3%). The oyster is suffering from overfishing and water pollution and is currently in decline.
Culinary
American oysters are often used as " meat oysters " and filled into cans. In the U.S., they are also eaten raw ( " sipped " ), where they previously often " refined " with ketchup and other spicy sauces. Well-known trade names are " Blue Point " (Connecticut), " Wellfleet " and " Cotuit " (Massachusetts), " Patuxent " ( Maryland), " Apalachicola " and " Indian River " (Florida), " Breton Sound" and " Black Bay " ( Louisiana ) and " Malpeque " (Prince Edward Island, Canada). The oyster is not in demand outside of North America.