Any marine bivalve mollusk of the Family Ostreidae, usually found adhering to rocks or other fixed objects in shallow water along the seacoasts, or in brackish water in the mouth of rivers.
In 2008, oyster hatcheries on the north-west coast of the United States were near collapse and a $270 million industry employing over 3,200 people was under threat.
Matarazzo was born and raised in Oyster Bay, New York, the daughter of Camille, a homemaker, and Ray Matarazzo, a data processing manager for a bakery chain.
The transfer from algae to oysters was very low; but a clear transfer from shrimp to mysids and from mysids to spot, indicated that much of the chlordecone was being transferred through the trophic levels
The majority of laboratory studies indicate a negative impact of ocean acidification on bivalves; therefore, highly valuable aquaculture food enterprises producing clams and oysters in East and South Asia and scallops in China and Japan may be particularly sensitive.
Transport in aquatic environments is illustrated by results of measurements in clams and oysters from the James River at sampling locations from 8-64 miles from Hopewell, Virginia that contained 0.2-0.8 mg/kg of chlordecone (Epstein, 1978).
Even as recently as 1947, out of 35,000 oysters harvested by a crew in one week, only 21 bore a pearl treasure, and of these, only 3 were of marketable quality.