Oyster Blog
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This morning KUOW, a Seattle public radio station, ran a special on a wild reef of Olympia Oysters that scientists have discovered off the coast of Vancouver Island. Scientists from all over the world are studying the reef to try...
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Watch the sun set over the Olympic Mountains from anywhere in the world at Dr. Dale's webcam. (Or check the webcam on a rainy February day and be glad you don't live here). The webcam looks across Hood Canal towards...
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Sometimes you find moon snails hanging out on the surface of the beach. Sometimes they're half-buried in the sand, but still visible, as in the video below: But only the slow-moving snails get caught at low tide with their shells...
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woo hoo! We're really excited about our new building! The new, improved, combined shucking/packing/retail store building will be built behind the current store. It will have absolutely killer views of the Canal and the Olympics. So far we've just built...
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Olympia oysters are the only oyster species native to the west coast of North America. They're small and intense, with a surprisingly coppery flavor. Olympias were an important food source for Native Americans, and a big hit with everybody who...
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The tideflats are full of life... much of it too small to notice. This little guy had lots of personality but didn't photograph well. Even in person it was hard to tell what was going on. How many legs does...
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The cosmopolitan moon jelly is found all over the world, frequently seen from the decks of Puget Sound ferries, and occasionally found dead on the beach at Hama Hama farm. Not sure if that qualifies them as a tideflat critter......
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Adam and Miguel head out on the Gladys to pick up oysters and clams at high tide. They use the crane to pick up the oyster tubs. And then take the shellfish to the plant for processing.
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The fringe, or bill, is the most colorful part of the oyster shell. Sometimes the bill is dark, sometimes it's very light: Or even multi-colored: This analysis of oyster cultivation in Korea claims that an oyster's shell color, along...
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The tideflats are covered with miniature crab. They skitter around the beach, hide under oyster clusters at low tide, and go into attack mode when they sense someone overhead. But they can also be kinda cuddly: Some of...
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Strange happenings in the world of oyster aquaculture: 1. Today's LA Times ran an article about the West Coast's V. tubiashii outbreak that is worth reading. Among other interesting things we learned from the article: the fact that the bacteria...
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In light of the previous post exhorting everyone to cook all shellfish, we thought it appropriate to offer a guide to barbecuing oysters. You need: Barbecue. Or fire. Oyster knife (or equivalent), plus gloves, hot pads, and/or tongs for handling...