Ostrea edulis

Ostrea edulis, commonly known as the European flat oyster, is a species of oyster native to Europe. In Great Britain and Ireland, localized names include Colchester native oyster, mud oyster, or edible oyster. In France, Ostrea edulis are known as huîtres plates except for those that come from the Belon River estuary in Brittany, France, which are known as Belons.

Ostrea edulis

[H. Zell] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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
Sits inside
OstreaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB, for Ostreidae
Life habit
epifaunalPBDB, for Ostreidae
Motility
stationary, attachedPBDB, for Ostreidae
Vision
blindPBDB, for Bivalvia
Environment
hypersaline,marine,brackishPBDB, for Ostreidae

Time the record covers

At least 15 million years on record.

The record covers at least 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 86 occurrencesMiocene — about 32 of 86 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 25 of 86 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 21 of 86 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 5 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 5 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 4 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 4 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 9 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 10 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 6 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 4 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 17 occurrences15.98 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

86 occurrences of Ostrea edulis on record, most of them in the Miocene. 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

86 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

21 formations

Lillo — 51.25°N, 4.28°ETermofourà — 45.05°N, 7.80°EFinikia — 35.30°N, 25.27°ECoralline Crag — 52.03°N, 1.38°ECoralline Crag — 52.12°N, 1.55°ECoralline Crag — 52.07°N, 1.35°ERhodes — 36.42°N, 28.20°ERhodes — 36.25°N, 28.17°EBurgeschleinitz — 48.63°N, 15.78°ETahria — 36.00°N, 0.60°ERosignano Limestone — 43.50°N, 10.43°EGavdos — 34.83°N, 24.08°EApostoli — 35.25°N, 24.58°ETrachones — 37.92°N, 23.73°EKourtes — 35.20°N, 25.10°EOosterhout — 51.70°N, 5.73°EGabir — 25.25°N, 34.80°ESlama — 36.00°N, 0.60°EMJI-lower yellowish marl — 35.48°N, 1.22°WCapo San Marco — 39.90°N, 8.43°EMonte Giogo — 44.85°N, 9.86°EWexford Gravels — 52.43°N, 6.33°WStudienka — 48.44°N, 17.16°EGuadaíra — 37.36°N, 5.84°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Ostrea edulis has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 49 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Ostrea edulis and its relatives

Miocene

Where Ostrea edulis and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

1,689 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 58 sites for Ostrea edulis, 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

42 references

Each of the 86 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. 30 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Ostrea edulis

Credit
[H. Zell]
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

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 itOstrea through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)