Crassostrea_gigas

Pacific oyster
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Bivalvia Order: Ostreoida Family: Ostreidae Genus: Crassostrea Species: C. gigas
Binomial name
Crassostrea gigas Thunberg, 1793

The Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, is the native oyster of the Pacific coast of Korea, Japan and China. It has been introduced to North America, especially in Puget Sound, Washington; and to the Australian states of Tasmania and South Australia. It is an important commercial harvest in all of these places, as well as New Zealand where the Pacific oyster has replaced the native rock oyster, Crassostrea glomerata, as the main commercial species.

The Pacific oyster is an invasive species in the Wadden Sea, out-competing native mussels such as the blue mussel.

External links

• NOAA aquaculture article
• Mediterranean Science Commission article
• Pacific oysters in the European Wadden Sea: An irreversible impact in a highly protected ecosystem (pdf)

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