Geography/Habitat of the Oysters

In North America, the Pacific Oyster is found anywhere from South East Alaska to Baja California. This indicates a broad temperature tolerance, with a range of -1.8 °C to 35 °C. They prefer firm bottom substrates, but can be found on mud and sand-mud bottoms. They thrive best in water with a salinity range of 20-25% but can be found in waters with salinities ranging from 10% to 35%. They reportedly smell like Dimethyl Sulfide, or DMS, because DMSP has accumulated in their tissues from the algae in their diet. DMSP stands for dimethylsulfoniopropionate, which is produced by algae in their diet. Some people report DMS to smell like cabbage or sweat, so a very rancid smell in DMS. DMS is said to increase the flavor proportionally. Pacific Oysters are native to Japan and has been cultivated there for centuries. As shown in the image below, there are many places that the Pacific oyster has been introduced to, but few outside the Pacific that it manages to thrive in. Red is native, Blue is the established populations, Green in introduced, but not yet thriving.

http://depts.washington.edu/oldenlab/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Crassostrea-gigas_Harris.pdf

Maurissa Young