Crassostrea virginica

The eastern oyster —also called the Atlantic oyster, American oyster, or East Coast oyster—is a species of true oyster native to eastern North and South America. Other names in local or culinary use include the Wellfleet oyster, Virginia oyster, Malpeque oyster, Blue Point oyster, Chesapeake Bay oyster, and Apalachicola oyster. C. virginica ranges from northern New Brunswick south through parts of the West Indies to Venezuela. It is farmed in all of the Maritime provinces of Canada and all Eastern Seaboard and Gulf states of the United States, as well as Puget Sound, Washington, where it is known as the Totten Inlet Virginica. It was introduced to the Hawaiian Islands in the 19th century and is common in Pearl Harbor.

Crassostrea virginica

Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
eastern oysterPBDB
Sits inside
CrassostreaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Crassostrea
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Crassostrea
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Crassostrea
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
hypersaline,marine,brackishPBDB, for Ostreidae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 131 occurrencesPaleocene — about 1 of 131 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 0 of 131 occurrencesOligocene — about 0 of 131 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 18 of 131 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 10 of 131 occurrencesPleistocene — about 95 of 131 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences58–56 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 2 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 2 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 2 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.0 Mya — about 4 occurrences9.0–6.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 13 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 95 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

131 occurrences of Crassostrea virginica on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

131 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

32 formations

Pamlico — 38.55°N, 75.08°WPamlico — 38.69°N, 75.77°WPamlico — 38.83°N, 75.85°WPamlico — 32.08°N, 81.10°WPamlico — 31.98°N, 81.06°WPamlico — 32.69°N, 80.23°WPamlico — 32.78°N, 79.93°WPamlico — 34.04°N, 77.89°WPamlico — 34.78°N, 76.69°WPamlico — 35.00°N, 76.79°WPamlico — 35.25°N, 76.57°WPamlico — 35.14°N, 76.77°WPamlico — 35.50°N, 76.27°WPamlico — 35.59°N, 76.23°WPamlico — 36.33°N, 76.17°WPamlico — 32.87°N, 79.65°WTalbot — 38.63°N, 76.27°WTalbot — 38.32°N, 76.42°WTalbot — 38.32°N, 76.48°WTalbot — 38.15°N, 76.43°WTalbot — 38.29°N, 76.64°WTalbot — 38.36°N, 77.21°WAcredale — 36.79°N, 76.17°WAcredale — 36.73°N, 76.34°WWaccamaw — 34.21°N, 81.31°WWaccamaw — 33.97°N, 78.39°WWaccamaw — 34.17°N, 78.60°WWaccamaw — 34.33°N, 78.20°WWaccamaw — 33.86°N, 78.55°WWaccamaw — 33.63°N, 79.16°WCaloosahatchee — 26.89°N, 82.01°WCaloosahatchee — 26.76°N, 81.44°WCaloosahatchee — 27.77°N, 82.68°WCanepatch — 33.86°N, 80.03°WCanepatch — 33.78°N, 78.74°WCanepatch — 33.83°N, 78.89°WKirkwood — 39.47°N, 75.35°WKirkwood — 39.46°N, 75.30°WKirkwood — 39.38°N, 75.22°WKirkwood — 39.40°N, 75.04°WBermont — 26.89°N, 82.01°WBermont — 26.68°N, 80.67°WNew Orleans Barrier Trend — 30.05°N, 89.96°WMichoud — 30.05°N, 89.96°WCercado — 19.46°N, 71.10°WCercado — 19.57°N, 71.25°WGurabo — 19.53°N, 71.20°WGurabo — 19.58°N, 71.25°WTalparo — 10.67°N, 61.07°WHorry Clay — 34.97°N, 76.97°WHorry Clay — 33.69°N, 78.89°WFort Thompson — 26.80°N, 81.37°WMount Hope — 9.27°N, 79.92°WNorfolk — 36.92°N, 76.49°WJames City — 35.28°N, 76.65°WCalvert — 39.20°N, 75.60°WMorne l'Enfer — 10.23°N, 61.63°WCodore — 10.83°N, 70.17°WJacobs Sand — 40.97°N, 72.46°WPenholloway — 33.20°N, 80.01°WBear Bluff — 26.76°N, 81.44°W

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The named rock units Crassostrea virginica has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 8 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 41 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Crassostrea virginica and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Crassostrea virginica and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,392 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 63 sites for Crassostrea virginica, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

32 references

Each of the 131 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 20 further references are not listed. Each entry links to the Paleobiology Database's own record for the work.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Crassostrea virginica

Credit
Jud McCranie
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCrassostrea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Gmelin 1791)