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oysters are bivalve mollusks that live in salty coastal waters, rivers and bays around the world. These creatures are covered in hard shells that can be opened for food and other biological needs or closed when conditions turn unfavorable. When you look at an oyster, it might be hard to imagine them eating at all! Their unique physical characteristics begs the question, what do oysters eat?
Not only do we show you the different foods that oysters eat, but we also tell you how to ingest them and what to watch out for in the water.
What foods do oysters eat?
Oysters eat algae, phytoplankton and zooplankton. These omnivores consume plants and animals, although they do so in very small amounts.
Oysters are unlike most creatures that live in the sea. They do not have the means to hunt for food and do not move much. Early in their life cycle, an oyster uses a temporary “foot” to find a suitable substrate on which to anchor for the duration of their lives. Once a favorable location is found, the oysters attach themselves to the surface and lose the footing.
Instead of hunting for food, oysters let the food come to them. They filter their food directly from the water that surrounds them, consuming valuable nutrients and helping to clean the water they live in.
Oysters eat the following foods:
- algae
- Seagrasses (small pieces)
- bacteria
- Phytoplankton
- zooplankton
- Dissolved Organic Matter
An oyster’s available food sources depend on where it lives and the quality of the water. Fortunately, these mollusks are not very picky and filter through tens of liters of water every day to get their food and clean the water at the same time.
How do oysters eat?
If you look at an oyster with an open shell, you are staring at a gray-beige blob. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that one part of an oyster is different from another. As much as we wonder what oysters eat, it is also appropriate to ask how they eat.
The process begins when the oyster discovers that the conditions are right for feeding in its body of water. They follow signals of ambient temperature, circadian rhythms and are believed to follow tidal fluctuations also. When their shells open, the oyster filters the water through its gills, retaining the food and expelling the rest.
Basically, oysters collect the food we mentioned earlier by removing algae and plankton from the water through a filtration process.
Using ciliary action is eating guided to the labial palps that surround the mouth of the oyster. Sometimes food is rejected by the palps because the food is not suitable for some reason. These parts are called pseudo-feces.
Acceptable food ends up in the mouth where it is consumed and processed. In general, oysters are not much different from other sea creatures. They put food in their mouths for consumption and that creates a stomach before it goes into the intestines. All waste is taken out and then out of their shell.
Oysters have a unique way of eating food, but the way they find food has serious environmental benefits.
How does the oyster’s diet affect other species?
While oysters may seem somewhat removed from the rest of the food chain, they play an important role in keeping water clean. Oysters filter suspended sediments, nitrogen, bacteria and algae from the water as they search for food.
By doing this, oysters cleanse the water and prevent the onset of eutrophication, a process in which higher amounts of nutrients in the water lead to changes in the ecosystem. Some of the more problematic elements of this process are:
- Increased harmful algae blooms
- Lower water clarity
- pH changes
- Water quality degradation
- Oxygen deficiency in the water
These are just some of the problems caused by eutrophication. Immediate results include fish kills, damage to commercial fishing processes and the death of creatures drinking contaminated water. These effects can have a huge negative effect on habitats on a large scale.
Fortunately, whether they live in the area or have been introduced artificially, oysters can help restore water. In general, the diet of oysters benefits many species that do not interact directly with oysters.
What do oysters eat in winter?
In winter, oysters eat nothing or very little of their typical food.
Although oysters do not have a central nervous system, they can detect when their habitat is likely to have food. They use a combination of circadian, lunar and tidal cycles and temperature fluctuations to understand when to open their shells and filter water and when to stay closed.
When the water reaches a low temperature, oysters enter a state of hibernation. They become much less active in the cold water, save their energy and then open again when the water warms up again.
During this rest period, oysters rarely open their valves and hardly or not at all pumping water.
What are oyster predators?
Making a meal out of an oyster can be difficult, as they can hide in their strong shells. However, oysters have no means of transport, so if they are caught by a predator, they cannot get away.
Here are some of the most common oyster predators that stand a chance of eating these mollusks:
It is important to note that many of these predators capture larvae or juveniles rather than old, established oysters.
Nevertheless, humans are among the most successful oyster predators, as they have d
ev
eloped special devices for finding and harvesting these mollusks. They often shell and then consume live oysters and farm them for sustainable food sources.
Other creatures are also effective at catching and consuming oysters, including oyster borers, snails that use their radula to cut a hole in the shell and then consume the prey inside. Still, it is not easy for most predators to get to these creatures.
Oysters are mollusks that filter water to obtain their food. They don’t eat many different foods, but oysters are important members of the ecosystem as they help purify water and prevent eutrophication. These creatures are not the most interesting of animals lurking beneath the waves, but they are still very useful.
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