The Importance Of Blue Ringed Oysters

The Chesapeake Bay is a 200-mile-long estuary extending from Norfolk, VA to Havre de grace Maryland. On average this bay contains about 68 trillion liters of water. This bay is the largest estuary in North America. It inhabits more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fish. “Since the early twentieth century, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced serious environmental degradation. Problems include large reductions in sea grass, reduced amounts of finfish and shellfish (especially oysters and crab), seasonal depletions in dissolved oxygen, and increases in sedimentation.” (Atkins & Anderson, 2003) These changes are brought on by pollution (Eutrophication and Toxic Contamination), development, deforestation, and agriculture. And according

This jellyfish is known to thrive in Northern Australia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The Sea Wasp has a bell that can reach almost ten inches in diameter. The tentacles can reach as long as fifteen feet. This jellyfish has been known to cause many deaths and can kill a person within minutes of being stung. Children are especially vulnerable to death because they are smaller in size and the venom disperses throughout the body at a faster rate. When a human makes contact with the box jelly’s tentacles the skin will swell up and a brown or purple lines start to appear. Doctors have developed antivenin but usually the victim dies before they can receive it.

On March 21st, our class went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The purpose of this trip was not only to explore Earth’s natural habitat’s, but it was also to gather information on our upcoming project and to gather information on how the community of St.Mary, affects the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The answer that we found out is one based off of what we eat. The Monterey Bay Aquarium released an app where it showed which type of seafood were lower in numbers than others. So, if plankton were very low in numbers, it is advised that we not fish for them or not eat as much of it. This shows based just off of what we eat, we can affect the numbers of in the ocean. Also, those plastic bags we buy at Target and Walmart, that we drop outside, drifts itself to the streams, which flow to rivers, which go to oceans, they are floating there, not doing much harm, until sea turtle comes by starts eating it, but gets tangled and choked in it, dies.

The food chain of the Chesapeake Bay is very simple. It has fish, big fish depend on small fish. The small fish feed off of oysters or sometimes zooplankton. Oysters then feed off of many small zooplankton. Once, it gets down to what the zooplankton feed off of it is mostly algae or grass. Now, since there is a major decrease in the algae population, this

This article presents the impact of low oxygen waters on Chesapeake Bay Zoo-plankton. Anoxia (oxygen deficiency) reduces the cope-pod abundances in Chesapeake's bottom waters, and disrupts the cope-pods inhabits towards the bottom and their migration to the surface. Also, cope-pods will have limited survival ability in low oxygen conditions in bottom waters. Results show the number of cope-pods surviving for 24 hours were significantly lower in water containing smaller milligrams of oxygen liter. Some will have a greater chance of survival because of their low metabolism that requires smaller oxygen. Low oxygen reduces the filtration rate of zoo-plankton and the filtration rate of the fresh water. Decreased filtration reduces metabolic rate in low-oxygen conditions, generally occur in the mesohaline part in summer. Low oxygen-levels may cut phyto-plankton and Cope pod's production. Lower oxygen concentration prevents hatching and the growth of eggs, which eggs could survive a few days if temperatures are cold and as the eggs sink to the bottom.

The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary with six major tributaries, the James, the Potomac, the Susquehanna, the Patuxent, the York, and the Rappahannock Rivers, feeding into the bay from various locations in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia (Chemical Contaminants in the Chesapeake Bay – Workshop Discussion 1). These areas depend on the Bay as both an environmental and an economic resource. Throughout the last 15 years the Chesapeake Bay has suffered from elevated levels of pollution. Nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater treatment plants, farmland, air pollution, and development all lead to reduced water clarity and lowered oxygen levels, which harm fish, crabs, oysters and

Oysters filter water for the rest of the community. They can filter up to 2 gallons (8 liters) of water in an hour. They are the most effective filtration system in the Chesapeake Bay. Before Europeans/ Americans started to harvest the oysters in this region, the amount of oysters in the Bay could filter the 18 trillion gallons of water in the Chesapeake in a matter of days, while the current population takes over a year.

The native oyster of the Chesapeake Bay is the Eastern oyster; also known as the Crassostrea Virginica. One of the many diseases found in the Eastern oysters are: Dermo disease and multinucleated sphere X disease (Graczyk, et al, 2006). Fayer, et al (2010) found that even if frozen oysters were contaminated with feces they could still survive. As stated by Graczyk, et al (2006), the oysters contain human enteric pathogens. Oysters contain a bacterium that can clean the bay naturally by itself. Since the oyster’s population decreased dramatically it takes longer for the bay to be cleaned. Strickland (2009) stated “the oysters used to be able to clean the water in the bay with in three days but now it takes up to an entire year to get the job done”. Graczyk, et al (2006) stated that “due to over harvesting in the Chesapeake Bay Eastern oysters are becoming at a point of

Antivenom is an antidote for venom that counters a specific venom or venom type. It is made to treat the venom of snakes, arachnids, scorpions, and poisonous amphibians. Also called antivenin, it is effective on the majority of recipients, but only if it is administered within a small window of opportunity before the venom does too much damage to or outright kills the victim. Antivenom’s manufacturing is similar to a vaccination. A vertebrate,

Today’s eastern oysters range from 3 to 5 inches in length, sometimes as much as 8 inches, although the oysters present during the colonization of the New World were documented to grow much larger (“Oyster History”). Oysters have many great characteristics in regard to their utility for humans as well as wildlife. The build ups of oyster bars, reefs, and beds provide habitat for many aquatic lifeforms and the filtration capabilities they possess is quite remarkable; as filter feeders, oysters feed on phytoplankton and small organisms while removing nutrients from the waters the inhabit, leaving them clear and pristine; just one oyster can filter more than 50 gallons in a day (“Oyster History”). Alas, it was a palatable constitution that made the eastern oyster so popular, creating an extensive economy based on its harvest. Unfortunately, this considerable popularity would ultimately bring the oyster’s

Dentrification is a major sink for inorganic nitrogen in estuaries. Nitrogen loss due to denitrification can exceed 50% of the total nitrogen input, and is probably the main reason why nitrogen can sometimes be the limiting nutrient in estuaries (Berelson, W.M., Heggie, D., Longmore, A., Kilgore, T., Nickolson, G., Skyring, G. 1998).

By driving less, we can slowly decrease the amount of air pollution that is also affecting our freshwater sources. Buying local food eliminates the need for long distance transport to receive food, which can help reduce over-fishing, and air pollution. Growing your own oysters allows you to still have the delicious oysters, but also keep the wild population growing. Finally, by not over fertilizing your lawn reduces the highly polluted runoff, which is also a large factor of the excess nutrients in the water.

I know some people say they are “just oysters” they are very important component of our living ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. There are some steps the community can do to help restore the oysters. Cleaning up the bay, is the biggest one. Oysters cant live in pollution. Silt and sediment can bury oyster beds, and nitrogen and phosphorus pollution can cause low-oxygen “dead zones” from which oysters cannot flee. Even moderately low oxygen levels that do not kill oysters outright appear to increase their susceptibility to the disease Dermo. And preliminary experiments suggest that intermittently low oxygen levels common in shallow waters could also weaken oyster immune systems, compounding the disease problem. For this reason, efforts to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution are important for the recovery of oysters. Poor water quality is yet another hurdle for the return of the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster reefs. Silt washed by rain from urban areas and agricultural fields can bury oyster beds particularly those that have been flattened by dredges.Threats from sewage and bacteria forced Maryland and Virginia to close or restrict oyster harvesting in 223,864

. As seen in the video, an oyster’s ability to filter feed gives them the helpful ability to clear up murky waters. In the experiment, the oysters started reducing the turbidity of the water within minutes of being placed in the tank. Although these result would most likely not occur this quickly on the large scale, in is indisputable that the oysters would reduce the turbidity of the water; allowing the plants to photosynthesize once again.

Oysters are available in pints or quarts. The containers must be clean. Check the information that government and: best if used by date, State Seafood authorization #, weight, nutritional information, and country of origin.