Oyster Blog

Pacific oysters can grow really, really big if left to their own devices. We keep this monster oyster shell in our store to show to interested customers. It also goes on tour with us occasionally...down to Portland to decorate our booth at the NW Food and Wine Festival...over to Seattle for one of the numerous oyster events we participate in. Barnacles close-up Oyster tree-rings In a later post we'll talk about oyster predators... one of which makes oysters develop the pock-marked pattern shown above. Piggy-back oyster. T.J. and Jean Hsu, visiting from Texas, stopped by to take a tour of...

Hermit Crab in Moon Snail Shell Fragment   This lovely creature is a Hairy Hermit (Pagurus hirsutiusculus)--a species easily identified by the white bands around its walking legs (which you can clearly see in the middle photo). It came in on the oyster barge and was put back out on the beach after the photo shoot. Hairy Hermits are the most common hermit crabs in Puget Sound. Like all hermit crabs, they make their home in abandoned snail shells. A hermit crab's asymmetrical, unprotected abdomen fits easily into spiral snail shells. Hermit crabs won't kill a snail in order to...

Here are some facts you probably didn't know about sea cucumbers: They breathe through their anus. They have a compound in their skin called catch collagen that allows them to liquefy or melt on command. They use this skill to escape into small, safe crevices to evade predators. They have an escalating response to stress. If you poke them with a stick, or hold them in your hand, they'll probably goopify. If you continue to mess with them they may puke their guts out, or eviscerate themselves. If you really, really bother a sea cucumber, it will inhale a bunch of...

 Spider crab, shown above, are like Daddy Long Legs... they have a really scary outline, but relatively inefficient pinchers. They might make a mark, but they won't take off your finger. Dungeness crab, on the other hand, are super dangerous and more aggressive than a rabid wiener dog. But they're no match for Jim. Here are some pictures of Jim picking a Dungeness crab up out of a slough:     The crab season in the Canal is open only fitfully and mainly to recreational crabbers. Occasionally the Skokomish Tribe will have a commercial crab opening, but for the most...

As it turns out, human inhabitants of the tideflats are shyer than barnacles in a shadow whenever a camera comes around. We did some camera habituation this past Friday, when the shucking plant employees were held captive by the intriguing tastes of Olympic Mountain Ice Cream. Debate continues as to which is OM's best flavor; our short list includes huckleberry cheesecake, toasted coconut, Kentucky mud pie and Jack Daniel's fudge praline. (Their chocolate flavor recently made this guy's top ten list). Shuckers Juan and Miguelito. Funny stuff. Shuckers Miguelito and Nathan. Shuckers John, Nathan, Roberto with oyster packers Brenda and...