Dr. Dan KillamWhile oysters lack ears, they still can hear, using statocysts, their balance organ. Researchers have found playing the soundscape from a healthy oyster reef attracts larvae to settle! They have evolved to settle on their ancestors to build reefs, and sound is a useful cue of a good spot! https://phys.org/news/2022-10-sea-soundscapes-summon-thousands-baby.html #clamFacts
@LianaBrooks it is by far the most successful home for #clamFacts
The Nuculidae, or nut clams, are small, funky little guys. They do not filter-feed, instead extending tentacle-like labial palps to draw food to their mouths (deposit feeding). Most other clams have evolved to grab food with their gills, having internalized the labial palps to help sort food inside the shell. Nuculids also lack the helpful snorkel-like siphon used by many bivalves for breathing and feeding. These traits plus some other morphological features has led them to sometimes be classified as a "primitive" group! #clamFacts
I still learn new #clamFacts all the time. TIL of the rosy bitterling! Freshwater mussel larvae are famed for grabbing onto fish to ride upstream attaching to the gills or other surfaces and often stealing resources from the host fish. The rosy bitterling fish flips the script and lays its eggs in the gill cavity of mussels, with the male then adding insult to injury depositing sperm. The embryos live embedded in the gills, emerging as tiny fish!
Happy Bivalventines 💗
Heart cockles are the flatfish of bivalves, opening on their sides. They partner with symbiotic algae to get part of their nutrition! #clamFacts
Heart cockles are the flatfish of bivalves, opening on their sides. They partner with symbiotic algae to get part of their nutrition! #clamFacts
One of a bivalve's most important organs: its gills. The gills are covered by tiny micron-scale cilia in feather-like branching patterns, which wave in the water, grabbing prey and carrying them down to be sorted and eaten, or spat back out. The clam controls the cilia directly via its nervous system when it smells its food floating by! Some bivalves like scallops can also see phytoplankton moving by, triggering waving of the cilia. Ciliary movement can also be triggered in many species by dosing with serotonin. #clamFacts
Chris Hayes@szakib yes, bivalves remove tens of thousands of tons of nitrogen a year from waters around the world (indirectly), by eating plankton that metabolized the nitrogen! they excrete a small amount of nitrogen back into the water, but for many species it ends up working up to net removal! there are even some unusual clams, like giant clams, that partner with photosymbiotic algae within their bodies. they actually suck up nitrogen directly, to feed their internal symbionts, and basically never pee because their symbionts just keep cycling all the internal nitrogen of the host! #clamFacts
soaproot@madeindex People come to the Fediverse for the decentralization, or control over their feed, or whatever, but they stay for the #clamFacts .
Wines have terroir, and oysters have merroir: the flavor of oysters from a particular place. Because oysters even in the same species live in a huge variety of water chemistries in terms of salinity, turbidity, etc and have highly variable diets including phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus, I believe it! https://www.whitestoneoysters.com/blogs/an-oyster-life/mentioning-merroir-the-flavor-of-oysters #clamFacts
Mentioning Merroir: The Flavor of Oysters
The flavor of an oyster is determined by several factors like region, water, and farming method. Knowing how these things affect an oyster’s flavor can help you detect the subtle nuances between oysters and become an oyster pro. First, you have to learn an important term, merroir. Merroir is derived from the same concept as wine’s terroir. Basically, the flavor profile of a wine, like that of an oyster is derived from the factors that go into its growth. While wines may be affected by soil, sun, and microclimate, oysters are affected by water quality, algae, current and tide, and mineral content of the sea floor. The word merroir comes in part from the French word for sea, mer. In essence, merroir was adopted from terroir to describe oysters. Nothing affects the flavor of an oyster more than its habitat. That's why we raise our oysters at the surface of the water where the food density is highest and the water quality is purest. Our prime location and unique growing method produce a plump oyster with a well-balanced flavor profile that can be enjoyed all year long! We strive to grow a world-class oyster in terms of half-shell presentation, consistency, meat quality, and flavor. On the outside, our oyster has a deep cup and a thick polished shell. Inside, a plump oyster fills the shell. Never any grit, mud, or sand. Our oyster's more subtle flavors will change with the seasons, but our farm is strategically located to blend salty and sweet as only the Chesapeake can. Its firm meat makes it a very approachable oyster and its layered flavors excite even the most seasoned ostreaphiles. Due to how our oysters are raised, in the buffeting top water waves of the Chesapeake Bay- they acquire a special flavor profile; sweet mushroom with vegetal notes at the forefront that delivers a salty miso finish. The Crassostrea Virginica oyster is native to Virginia, meaning it better absorbs the micronutrients of the Chesapeake Bay. This, combined with a topwater cage results in their unique flavor profile. Nutrients at the top of the water column are “cleaner” and since that’s what’s available for the oysters to filter, they get less of the sea-water type flavor you may find from an oyster grown in deeper in water. This methodology also affects shell presentation and appearance- our oysters really have to hold on to their cages resulting in plump meat and smaller, polished shells. Want to practice your merroir technique? Saddle up to the oyster bar and ask these questions, where are the oysters from and how are they grown, then, slurp! Keep that information in mind as you taste and over time you’ll figure out what aspect of merroir you prefer.