Posted on 11/27/2019 8:57:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv
Snails known as impressed odostomes, Boonea impressa, are common parasites of oysters, latching onto a shell and inserting a stylus to slurp the soft insides. Because the snail has a predictable 12-month life cycle, its length at death offers a reliable estimate of when the oyster host died, allowing Florida Museum of Natural History researchers Nicole Cannarozzi and Michal Kowalewski to use it as a tiny seasonal clock for when people collected and ate oysters in the past.
Stowaways on discarded oyster shells, the snails offer new insights into an old question about the shell rings that dot the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Mississippi.
"People have been debating the purpose of these shell rings for a very long time," said Cannarozzi, the study's lead author and Florida Museum environmental archaeology collection manager. "Were they everyday food waste heaps? Temporary communal feasting sites? Or perhaps a combination? Understanding the seasonality of the rings sheds new light on their function."
Cannarozzi and Kowalewski, Thompson Chair of Invertebrate Paleontology, analyzed oysters and snails from a 230-foot-wide, 4,300-year-old shell ring on St. Catherines Island and compared them with live oysters and snails. They found that island inhabitants were primarily harvesting oysters during late fall, winter and spring, which also suggested the presence of people on the island tapered off during the summer.
The seasonality of the shell ring may be one of the earliest records of sustainable harvesting, Cannarozzi said. Oysters in the Southeast spawn from May to October, and avoiding oyster collection in the summer may help replenish their numbers.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
The impressed odostome, Boonea impressa, is a tiny marine snail that parasitizes oysters by perching atop and piercing their shells and sucking their insides. Because the snails have a predictable 12-month life cycle, their length can record the time of death of their oyster host, allowing researchers to date ancient oyster harvesting. [Kristen Grace/Florida Museum]
I find it hard to impress an odostome. I have to really work at it. Tough crowd.
So January, February, March, April, Mray, Jurne, Jurly, Aurgust, September, October, November, December?
As I understand it the “R” month thing more and more may be becoming a moot point since a lot of oysters are from farms now. having lived in the south my whole life and eating oysters most of my adult life i can say the best I ever had were Apalachicola.
As a new aficionado of Apalachicola oysters, I inquired of a local as to any truth to the myth. She said: “Nah, we eat them year round.” I figured the “month without an R” taboo was due to shipping them in summer months when they’d be more likely to spoil.
They just project a hard shell to the public. Inside they’re just a bunch of softies.
Times change. Oysters change. Farming/harvesting has changed.
It is not a myth but now no longer a taboo.
The warm months, without the ‘R’, are also when the water is warm and bacterial levels are high, making the oysters possible sources of intestinal infections, so that may have been more of a concern than ‘sustainability’, which I doubt was a concern at all.
How would these native peoples even know when they spawn or how?.......................
Summer months are when the waters are warm and bacteria levels are high........................
About the only ones you see around here are Apalachicola oysters. A few Choctawhatchee Bay ones too.
I would add September to those months not to eat oysters.
LOL! Best oysters I ever ate were Chesapeake Bay south of Rappahannock!
On one of our frequent biz trips to Florida I was seated across from my buddy who would eat 2 buckets to my 1.
About half way through I looked up and he was gagging and turning green.
He'd got into a bad oyster.
That was enough for me....I quit.
Diamond Jim Brady would only eat Lynn Haven oysters from Virginia Beach.
One of the best meals I ever had was at Sam’s Oyster Bar in Ft. Walton Beach. It was a fried oysters plate. I returned maybe 20 years later and it was just so-so. Maybe I was expecting too much.
I’ve never had any; keep kosher.
But I am glad you enjoy them.
and the best,(and big ass) shrimp are Banana Reds from the Banana River.
Acme Oyster House in New Orleans. Amazing.
L
The Acme is where I was treated to a real live “shuck and jive” demo while sitting at the bar by the front windows.
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![The impressed odostome, Boonea impressa, is a tiny marine snail that parasitizes oysters by perching atop and piercing their shells and sucking their insides. Because the snails have a predictable 12-month life cycle, their length can record the time of death of their oyster host, allowing researchers to date ancient oyster harvesting. [Kristen Grace/Florida Museum]](https://media.eurekalert.org/multimedia_prod/pub/web/217620_web.jpg)
