Ostrea is a genus of edible oysters, marine bivalve mollusks in the family Ostreidae, the oysters.
Ostrea Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
A lower valve (the attachment valve) of a shell of Ostrea edulis | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Bivalvia |
Order: | Ostreida |
Superfamily: | Ostreoidea |
Family: | Ostreidae |
Genus: | Ostrea (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Type species | |
Ostrea edulis Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
|
This genus is very ancient. It is known in the fossil records from the Permian to the Quaternary (age range: from 259 to 0.0 million years ago). Fossil shells of these molluscs can be found all over the world. Genus Ostrea includes about 150 extinct species.[1][2]
At least one species within this genus, Ostrea lurida, has been recovered in archaeological excavations along the Central California coast of the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating it was a marine taxon exploited by the Native American Chumash people as a food source.[3]
Species in the genus Ostrea include:[1][4]