Oysters and Fish

by Thomas J. Murrey

The Food of the Oyster consists of minute animal and vegetable organisms and small particles of organized matter. Ordinary sea-water contains an abundance of this sort of food, which is drawn into the gills with the water. As the water strains through the pores into the water tubes, the food particles are caught on the surface of the gills by a layer of adhesive slime. As soon as they are entangled, the microscopic hair-like projections on the gills strike against them in such a way as to slide them along the gills toward the mouth. When they reach the anterior ends of the gills, they are pushed off, and fall between the lips, which are also covered with thin hair-like projections, which carry the particles forward until they slide into the mouth. No wonder the intelligent tramp wished that he might become an oyster. His food would then come to him in a sort of endless progression.

Formation of the Deep Shell.—Although the oyster lies upon the bottom with one shell above and one below, the shells are not upon the top and bottom of the body, but upon the right and left sides. The two shells are symmetrical in the young oyster; but after it becomes attached, the lower or attached side grows faster than the other, and becomes deep and spoon-shaped, while the free valve remains nearly flat. In nearly every case the lower or deep valve is the left.

Cock Oysters.—There is a belief among oyster-eaters, that the dark-gray or black oysters are male oysters, and are therefore superior to the female oyster. Such misinformation was evidently promulgated by oyster-openers in anticipation of a tip for serving selected oysters. There is no truth in the assertion, however, for there are just as many black female oysters as there are black male oysters. There is no characteristic color by which a male or cock oyster can be distinguished from a female oyster. Microscopic examination, or a scientific eye, is the means of discovering the sex of an oyster.

The black-oyster romance is of ancient origin. The Roman oyster-smashers successfully “worked it” on Pliny, Horace, and other ancient writers and epicures.

Green Oysters.—At least a million dollars worth of oysters are annually destroyed in New-York waters by sludge acid from the oil refineries and illegal dumpings. The acid kills the oysters the instant it touches them, and turns them green. There is very little danger that a poisoned oyster will reach the consumer, but the loss to the planter is enormous.

The green tint of the oyster, or in fact any distinguished color the oyster may possess, is due to the color of its food and to the nature of the surrounding bottom. The bottom of the Shrewsbury River is mud; the oysters take on a peculiar tawny color from their muddy bed. Rockaway oysters exist on a hard sandy bottom. If the beds are covered with sea-lettuce, as they often are, the oysters take on a delicate green tint. When the lettuce is removed by a strong tide or high wind, the oysters gradually assume their white, slightly grayish color. Their shells are round, thin, and brittle. The shells from mud bottoms are long, narrow, thick, and spongy. Intruded mud is enclosed by a thin layer of pearly shell.

The oyster epicure may rest assured of one fact. No matter what the color of an oyster may be, so long as it is alive and seasonable it is wholesome. It cannot absorb enough foreign matter to injure the epicure without committing suicide, and there is no possible danger of any one swallowing a dead oyster.

Banquet Oysters.—As served at the average public banquet, the raw oyster is a thing of terror to appetite and to weak digestive organs. When looking for one’s seat, where, through an oversight, one is not furnished with a chart of the tables, one beholds six very small emaciated oysters. The heat in the room has absorbed their moisture, afterwards the bed of fine ice on which they were placed has melted, and the water overflowed them, thereby finishing the work of destruction. One must be under the influence of the sherry and Vermouth of the reception-rooms, to be willing to begin the feast with such an introductory course. No wonder fashionable society demands a substitute for the oyster as the dinner season progresses. In the name of humanity, order the oysters to table and announce the dinner at the same time. Guests are willing to wait a few moments for toothsome oysters, provided they are direct from the ice-box.

Ordering Oysters for the Family Table.—Send the servant to the nearest dealer, a few minutes before the oysters are wanted, and let her wait for them. In this way one is quite sure of procuring freshly opened oysters. Many dealers begin opening oysters for their family orders hours before they are to be served; and the result is, they have lost much of their juices before being served.

Miss Parloa’s “New Cook Book” says, “Six large oysters are usually allowed each person.” This error should be corrected in future editions. Large raw oysters on the half-shell are only served at oyster-counters to countrymen, and are not served at a dinner, no matter how unpretentious or how elaborate the affair may be.