Oyster reefs are most successful where the bottom currents carry sediments away from the reef. Oysters are bio-indicators of an estuary. In other words, they can tell us about the water quality in Mobile Bay. Oysters eat by filtering, or straining, organisms out of the water. They are known as filter-feeders.
Heavy rains cause stormwater runoff into the Bay.
The stormwater usually carries pollutants which end up, directly or indirectly, in the bay. Some of the pollutants can accumulate in the tissue of the oysters. If we eat the contaminated oysters, we can become sick. That is why the Alabama Department of Public Health keeps a close watch on water quality near the productive oyster reefs. Reefs form in the open bay, as well as along the edges of saltmarshes.