In all the time I spent learning about the Chesapeake Bay and eating the delicious seafood that comes from it, I really had no idea about the creatures I was eating. An interesting piece the Annapolis Capital published about oysters got me thinking about this topic. I’m not going to list all 10 things the article says people do not know about oysters, but I wanted to highlight two that really struck me.

First, oysters often change gender. It never occurred to me that this was even possible. After looking into this a little more, I discovered that sex change is not all that uncommon in fish and other sea creatures. The article goes on to talk about how oysters often start out as male and then change to females. How does this affect the current state of the bay’s oyster population?

And second,  when you eat a raw oyster, it is likely still alive. Thankfully, I do not tend to enjoy oysters and have always been more of a crab and shrimp person, because this fact disgusted me. At least with crabs we get from the Chesapeake Bay, they get steamed before consumption, but with oysters, they are alive and can wiggle in your mouth.

Now I am interested in looking into facts about other seafood we may not know, because this article definitely taught me a lot about oysters that I did not have a clue about.