![]() In the 17th century, oyster spat were collected on rocks, separated from each other and deployed into ponds in salt marshes on the Atlantic coast of France. The Romans built ponds to stock and sort oysters. The flat oyster Ostrea edulis, a native of Europe, has been part of the human diet for many centuries. The flat oyster can grow very large (>20 cm) and become very old (>20 years). edulis occurs from the coast of Norway to waters near Morocco, through the Mediterranean Sea, and into the Black Sea. The hard rough gray shell contains a meat that can vary in color from creamy beige to pale gray, in flavor from salty to bland, and in texture from tender to firm. Shell consist of a series of chalky layers which may include laminar and hollow chambers. The shell is off white, yellowish or cream in colour with light brown or bluish concentric bands on the right valve. A large central muscle serves to close the valve against the pull of the ligament. Valves are held together at their narrow ends by an elastic ligament. Inner surfaces of both valves are smooth and usually pearly, white or bluish-grey, often with darker blue areas. Left shell is deeply concave and fixed to the substratum, the right being flat with rougher edges and sitting inside the left acting as a lid. The two halves (valves) of the shell are different shapes subcircular to circular and inequivalve. The irregular shell has a distinct hooked beak, patterned with delicate foliation. Ostrea edulis is a bivalve mollusc that has an oval or pear shaped shell with a rough, scaly surface.
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