An invitation to know oysters well.

Hundreds of names on the menu. Five species in the water.

Most oysters sold in North America carry the name of a bay, an inlet or a farm. Behind all of those names are five species. Where an oyster grew shapes how it tastes, which is why two of the same species can seem like different animals.

EasternCrassostrea virginica

Native to the Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The oyster of the East Coast and the Gulf.

PacificCrassostrea gigas

Brought from Japan in the early 1900s. Now the main oyster of the West Coast.

OlympiaOstrea lurida

The native oyster of the Pacific coast. Small, about the size of a half dollar.

KumamotoCrassostrea sikamea

A small, deep-cupped oyster from Japan, grown on the Pacific coast.

European flatOstrea edulis

Round, flat and smooth-shelled. Grown on both coasts in small numbers.

Eating them safely

Oysters feed by filtering water, so whatever is in the water can end up in the oyster. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is plain about raw oysters:

• You cannot tell a bad oyster by looking at it, smelling it or tasting it.
• You can get sick in any month of the year.
• Hot sauce, lemon juice and alcohol do not make a raw oyster safe. Cooking does.

Source: CDC, Vibrio and Oysters.

Every state sets its own rules.

Whether you may gather your own oysters, where, when and how many all depend on the state. Before any trip, do two things: read the state's current rules, and check that the water is open for harvest that day. The state agency is always the authority. We only point the way.

The shell is the next oyster's home.

A young oyster needs something hard to settle on, and the best thing is old oyster shell. Shell that goes in the trash is lost to the water. Shell that goes back becomes reef.

• On the beach. Where the rules say to shuck in place, as in Washington, leave the shell where you found the oyster.
• At home and in restaurants. Many coastal areas collect used shell and return it to the water. Oyster Recovery Partnership runs a recycling network around the Chesapeake, and Billion Oyster Project collects shell from New York City restaurants.

The people doing the work.

We keep things short and send you to the source. These organizations did the research and the restoration, and they explain it better than we can.

• NOAA Fisheries, Oyster Reef Habitat
  Why reefs matter and how they are being restored across the country.
• Oyster Recovery Partnership
  Large-scale reef restoration in the Chesapeake Bay.
• Billion Oyster Project
  Restoring oyster reefs to New York Harbor.
• Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration
  A Nature Conservancy and Pew program that links oyster farms with reef restoration.
• Chesapeake Oyster Alliance
  A coalition working to speed up oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay.
• North Carolina Oyster Trail
  Farms, restaurants and markets where visitors can meet North Carolina oysters.