Oyster 101: The Life-Cycle, Exploitation & Use of Ostrea Edulis

The Ostrea edulis, the Native Flat oyster is a "widely distributed specie around the British Isles, with its main stocks are now in the west coast of Scotland, the South-East and Thames estuary, the Solent, the River Fal, and Lough Foyle" (2007, MarLIN.) After completing a literature review into O. edulis I found several very useful websites which give useful and wide variety of information on the subject. Below there are links to these sites making it easier for a user to access this information.



(Image from: FOOD & AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS)



Weblinks for Ostrea edulis

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Have two news stories regarding the Oyster stocks in Scotland from the 1st September 2002 and the 14th February 2006. The two news articles are about the decline of the O. edulis population. There are interview quotes from spokespersons from the Scottish Natural Heritage and gives possible factors for the decline and information on how they are raising awareness.


The Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Fisheries & Aquaculture Department have a Cultured Aquatic Species Information Programme on the O. edulis. The site has information on the biological features of the specie with a image gallery. There is a Profile of the specie giving historical background, the main producer countries and the habitat and biology of O. edulis. The last sections are about the Production of the specie, Statistics on the specie and the Status and Trends regarding the specie. The final section is on the Main Issues of responsible aquaculture practices. The areas focused on the production are very useful giving good information and diagrams of the production methods.

The Global Invasive Species Database, compiled by National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) have information on O. edulis on the ecology, distribution, specie management information and specie impact information on the site. The site is easy to use with good concise information and also have a list of references and links on O. edulis.

The Marine Life Information Network for Britain & Ireland (MarLIN) have information on many species and habitats. There is site on O. edulis giving basic information, taxonomy and identification, some general biology, habitat preferences and distribution of the specie, reproduction and longevity information. They also give a species bibliography for O. edulis.

The UK Biodiversity Plan (UKBAP) Species Action Plan on the Native Oyster is a document giving information on the current status of the specie, the current factors causing loss or decline and any current action in place. This page is full of information referring to the conservation and the legislation involved with O. edulis. There is also a large excel file on the National Status in 2005 of all the species on the UKBAP Species Action Plan list which can be accessed from the list at the top of the page.

In response to the UKBAP Species Action Plan a report, by the Scottish Natural Heritage, (Contracted to University Marine Biological Station Millport) titled ‘Conservation of the Native Oyster Ostrea edulis in Scotland’ was commissioned. The report is just under two hundred pages long, but has a very detailed contents page to easily access particular information. The report is in great detail and very specific to Scotland, it would be good to use this report when making comparisons to the state of the fisheries and the action being taken to other parts of the UK, or the World.


The title of this post, Oyster 101, was kindly supplied by Oli Cozens.