Oyster

“ The stream thus affected brings with it the algae spores and animalcules which constitute the oyster's food. But where is the oyster's mouth? Speaking popularly, it is away back near the hinge of the shell, as shown in the cut. To this point the current flows. Now, it must not be supposed that all is fish that comes to the oyster's net. Far from it. Hence this mollusk has eclectic functions. Doubtless a sharp spicule of a sponge may occasionally get into the mouth, even as a bone splinter can get by accident into a human throat. ”

“ Let us ask therefore, first, what kind of ideal form may be attributed to a limpet or an oyster, that is to say, whether all oysters do or do not come up to the entire notion or idea of an oyster. I apprehend that, although in respect of size, age, and kind of feeding, there may be some difference between them, yet of those which are of full size and healthy condition there will be found many which fulfil the conditions of an oyster in every respect, and that so perfectly, that we could not, by combining the features of two or more together, produce a more perfect oyster than any that we see. ”

“ The oyster, which possesses a complete digestive system, consisting of a mouth, stomach, intestine and liver, obtains its food from the minute organisms or particles of matter which flow into its mouth by the currents of water which pass through its gills. From the time of the Romans, who highly appreciated the oysters of Britain, this shell-fish has been a favourite delicacy, not only for its rich flavour, which depends upon its feeding ground, but also for the nutritive qualities it possess, making it especially useful for invalids. ”

“ SAUTED OYSTERS Drain twenty-five fat oysters, spread them out on a board, carefully lifting them with the fingers by the muscular part. Never stick a fork into an oyster. With a soft piece of cheese cloth, dry each one carefully without bruising. Dust lightly with salt and red pepper. Have ready a large sheet-iron sauted pan. Put in the bottom just sufficient butter to keep the oyster from sticking. Have at your side the serving dish, nicely heated, in which you may put a tablespoonful of butter, and if you use wine, a tablespoonful of sherry, and about four drops of Worcestershire sauce. ”

“ An oyster is furnished, on the protruding edges of the mantle, with pigmented spots which may be termed ‘visual organs,’ though they hardly rise to the capacities and organisation of real ‘eyes.’ But there is no doubt that they are sufficiently sensitive to the action of light to enable the oyster to apprehend the approach of danger, and close his doors accordingly. ”

“ Nature, too, has given the oyster a sensitive perception of the changes of light as the means of its protection from the many enemies it has to contend with; for if the shadow of an approaching boat is thrown forward so as to cover it, it closes the valves of its shell before any undulation of the water can have reached it. ”

“ The oyster, moreover, as it lies in the shell, seems capable of expanding or spreading that part of the body which lies under the hinge laterally upon and into these depressions, a circumstance very easily observed in the half famished oyster, because these lateral expansions of the animal are then more visibly elongated along the passage of these lateral grooves of the hinge, and give the pointed end of the animal a somewhat cornuted appearance. ”

“ Besides these young oysters, the liquor contains a variety of animalcules." Indeed, with the aid of a microscope one million of young have been discovered in a single oyster. Guarded by their two tender shells, these swim freely in the sea when ejected by the parent oyster, until, by means of a glutinous substance, they fix themselves so fast to some object that they can be separated only by force. These young are very soon able to produce others, many say at four months after their birth. When the oyster attains the size of a crown the shell is still very tender and thin ”

“ Of course we except cooked oysters. Besides their valuable digestive qualities, oysters supply a recipe not to be despised in the liquor they contain. It is produced by the sea-water they have swallowed, but which, having been digested, has lost the peculiar bitterness of salt water. This oyster-water is limpid, and slightly saline in taste. Far from being purgative, like sea-water, it promotes digestion. It keeps the oysters themselves fresh, prolongs their life for some time until it is destroyed in our stomachs, or until the oyster has been transformed into a portion of ourselves. ”

“ A little fresh water don’t hurt them; but snow water kills them, as it does other fish, outright. To most people, one oyster is just like another; but there are many different sorts, and each sort has a fancy for a particular place. The oyster gives us work for most months in the year; for when not fishing to sell, we are either dredging up the young oysters or laying them down again.”
It is calculated that one spawn oyster produces eight hundred thousand young ”

“ In the latter case the oyster becomes, for the most part, very tender, and green and fat, because the stagnant water promotes the germination of those microscopical spores of marine plants, which always abound in natural sea-water, and upon which it delights to feed. These reservoirs, therefore, are not only the means of preserving them for sale, but of purifying them from the muddy odour which they have imbibed at sea, and which indicates them to be hard and devoid of that luscious and somewhat gastronomic quality so much prized by the world at large. ”

“ I noticed on the surface fragments of oyster shells. I obtained a grubbing hoe and made an excavation about 2 feet deep, and found a bed of oyster shells. They differed from other shells I have examined in other portions of the State. As far as examined, each shell had been broken at the end, as oysters were opened some years ago. The present elevation of Orange Lake is 48 feet 8 inches above the ocean level. The nearest oyster bed is distant 43 miles. ”

“ The oyster contains a tough muscle, by which it is attached to the shell; the body is made up largely of the liver (which contains glycogen, animal starch) , and is partially surrounded by fluted layers, which are the gills. Natural oyster beds (or banks) are found in shallow salt water having stony bottom, along the entire Atlantic Coast. The oyster industry of the world is chiefly in the United States and France, and on account of its increase many artificial beds have been prepared for oyster culture. Oysters are five years old before suitable for eating. ”

“ Oyster.—Possibly the most valuable of all of the mollusks. There are various species in all parts of the world, but the best is the American species, which now occurs from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico. Formerly it extended to the coast of Maine, and even now there are scattered beds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The oyster grows in shallow water, fastening its shell to some rock or shell, and in this way large beds are formed. They are also planted; that is, the young are taken and placed in favorable situations for rapid growth. ”

“ This creature, usually about half an inch long, crawls on an oyster—usually a young one—and with a rasp-like tongue files a hole in the shell, through which it sucks the juices out of the oyster. The only thing that keeps the oyster-drill in check at all is that as soon as it is big enough for a younger drill to climb on its shell, it is apt to suffer the same fate. ”

“ During that month, by the law of the Admiralty Court, the dredgers have liberty to take every kind of oyster, whatsoever be its size. When they have taken them they gently raise with a knife the small brood from the cultch, and then they throw the cultch in again, to preserve the ground for the future, unless they are so newly spat, that they cannot be safely severed from the cultch, in which case they are permitted to take the stone or shell, which the spat is upon, one shell having often twenty spats. ”

“ In the opinion of scientific writers, water containing 3 per cent. of salt is most suitable for oyster development, water above that salinity being too strong, and that below it too weak. It has also been well pointed out by Mr. henry Woodward, in his admirable pamphlet on Oyster Culture in New South Wales, that most of our deep water beds are situated in the rivers, a little way from the sea. Under favourable circumstances there is just that commingling of the fresh water from the river and the salt water from the sea which produces the oyster to perfection. ”

“ Fecundity and Means of Propagation; Age; Fossil Oysters in Berkshire and in the Pacific; Power of Locomotion.
The Oyster belongs to those Mollusks which are headless, having their gills in the form of membranous plates, and are named Lamellibranchiata, from the Latin word Lamella, a plate; or Conchæ, the Latin name for the whole family of oyster, scollop, cockle, mussel, and other well-known bivalves. Properly speaking, only six kinds are fit to take part in the gastromal treat, to say nothing of the sanitary advantages the family are good enough to provide for the world at large. ”

“ Properly speaking, however, the Pearl oyster (Avicula margaritacea) , from which the greater number of pearls, and the largest quantity of mother-of-pearl is obtained, is not an oyster strictly so called, but belongs to an allied genus. The pearl oyster is an oval-pointed recurved-edged mussel; the lower shell with a hood-shaped hollow point, the upper one like a cover, leafy and pearly, of a rosy purple-white colour. The common oyster (Ostrea edulis) , on the contrary, has a round-oval mussel-shell, thin towards the edges, with tiled leaves adhering to one another, the upper shell quite flat. ”

“ As soon as an oyster is taken out of the sea, it closes its shells, and keeps them closed until the shock of removal has passed away, or perhaps until the desirability of a fresh supply of water suggests itself. The men take advantage of this to exercise the oysters, removing them from the sea for longer and longer periods. In time this has the desired effect; the well-educated mollusc learns that it is hopeless to ‘open’ when out of the water, and so keeps his shell closed and his gills moist, and his general economy in good condition. ”

“ These currents of water not only bring food to the mouth of the bi-valve, but also irrigate the gill plates and so enable the animal to breathe. The oyster lies on the sea bottom with its muscle relaxed and its shell gaping.
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A North European oyster acts alternately as female and male. It produces eggs—as many as a million in a season—and a fortnight after the eggs have been shed, the same oyster produces millions of spermatazoa, which form a cloud of fine dust in the water. ”

“ And then the tide sweeps 'em in and out, so I reckon they get scattered pretty much everywhere in the neighborhood of the oyster-beds."
"But how do they grow fast to old shells and other oysters if they have no shells themselves?"
"Oh! They get shells quick enough. And as soon as they do, they sink to the bottom and fasten themselves to the first clean rock or shell they come to. If they don't hit a rock or shell, they sink in the mud and die. Of course, there ain't no rocks on our mud bottom, and that's why we have to put shells on the beds. ”

“ Bob Sawyer’s supper party in Pickwick, it may be recollected that “the man to whom the order for the oysters had been sent had not been told to open them; it is a very difficult thing to open an oyster with a limp knife or a two-pronged fork: and very little was done in this way.”
And in one’s own house, unless there be an adept at oyster-opening present, the simplest way to treat the bivalve is the following. It should be remembered that a badly-opened oyster will resemble in flavour a slug on a gravel walk. So roast him, good friends, in his own fortress.
Oysters in their own Juice. ”

“ The moment an oyster in the barrel opens its mouth it dies, because there is nothing in the barrel to sustain its life. It is therefore as well, on the receipt of the little cask, to open it at once by removing the top and the first hoop, and then to place the top on the upper-most layer of oysters, keeping it in position by the addition of some heavy weight, which causes the staves to spread and stand erect; and as the layers of oysters are required for the table, it is only necessary each time to replace the top and the weight to a similar position to keep the remainder fresh for a few days. ”

“ Pholades are very nutritious, but they have a disagreeable smell; but common oysters are very like all these sorts of shell-fish, and are more nutritious. There are also some kinds which are called wild oysters; and they are very nutritious, but they have not a good smell, and moreover they have a very indifferent flavour. But Aristotle, in his treatise about Animals, says, "Oysters are of all the following kinds: there are the pinna, the mussel, the oyster, the cteis, the solen, the cockle, the limpet, the small oyster, the balanus. ”

“ Do you think a desiccated codfish would rise to a fly, or wouldn't you have to fish for him with a colander?' And so he kept reeling out a jackassery like that until directly he said, 'I'll tell you, professor, what this country needs is a fresh-water oyster. Now, it has occurred to me that maybe the best variety to plant would be the ordinary fried oyster. It seems to be popular, and it has the advantage of growing without a shell. ”

“ Shell-fish are far less digestible, the Oyster being the only exception. The nitrogenous matter in oysters is fourteen parts, of fatty matter one and a half, of saline matter two, and of water eighty. At the time of spawning—from May to September—they lose their good condition, and become unwholesome. ”