Habitat: Subtropical/tropical brackish waters of mangrove forests, inter-coastal mangroves

Filter up to 50/60 gallons of water every day. Oysters have hard shells for protection against predation and desiccation during low tide. When the tide is low, the animal responds by closing its shell to avoid desiccation. Shells reopen when the tide flows back in and normal activities continue. Mangrove oysters reproduce externally by producing a sperm called a spat which can swim for up to 2 weeks before attaching and beginning to colonize a previously inhabited oyster shell. Due to this special reproductive mechanism, programs such “Shuck and Shell” are successful in rebuilding populations of mangrove oysters by creating mats/bags of oyster shells from local participating restaurants and placing them along the bottom of estuaries for oyster recolonization in that area.

Mangrove oysters are not recognized as threatened or endangered although populations are decreasing.

 Mangrove oysters are threatened by over harvesting, loss of habitat, and changes in water quality including increasing oceanicacidification, pH, and pollution.

Oyster harvesting has closed seasons, bag limits, size limits, and legal harvesting areas that are “approved”, “conditionally approves”, or “open” managed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Division of Aquaculture (Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission).