Ostrea edulis
Also called the ‘Flat Oyster’ or the ‘Native Oyster’, it has a thick, rough textured grey-brown shell. It has a deeply cupped left valve, and a smaller flat right valve. Shell diameter 10cm.
The Common Oyster is the only native oyster, and is an important source of food for humans and other animals and birds. It also produces pearls. It forms beds around the low-water mark of estuaries and open shores, found attached to rocks or other shells. Widely distributed around the British coasts, but less so on the east and north-east coasts. Its population has suffered a sharp decline due to over fishing, pollution and disease.
Photographs taken June 2012, Llandudno Wales and August 2012, Bournemouth.
Nature Journeys 