Malacology
Malacology is the study of mollusks. This includes animals like octopus, snails, slugs, and clams. It is the second largest phylum of animals, making them one of the most successful groups on the planet. There are over 80,000 described species of mollusks with many more left to be discovered. Mullusca is composed of 8 recognized classes including Cephalopoda, Gastropoda, Polyplacophora, Scaphapoda, Monoplacophorans, the Aplacophorans, Caudofoveata and Solenogastres, and Bivalvia.
Eastern Oyster
(Gmelin, 1791)
Crassostrea virginica
Class:
Bivalvia
Order:
Ostreida
Family:
Ostreidae
Misc. Facts
The Eastern Oyster is the official state shell of Connecticut, Virginia and Mississippi. They are a commercially significant species that is harvested and aquacultured along the US East coast.
Citations
MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=140657 on 2021-06-10
Morris, P. A. (1987). A field guide to shells: Atlantic and Gulf coasts and the West Indies (3rd ed.). Houghton Mifflin.
Rosenberg, G. 2009. Malacolog 4.1.1: A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca. [WWW database (version 4.1.1)] URL http://www.malacolog.org/