When the first white settlers arrived on the shores of North America, one of the most impressive indications they had of the richness of the new land was the abundance, large size, and excellence of the oysters. Friendly Indians reportedly brought oysters along with wild turkeys to the first Thanksgiving. They taught the settlers how to tong the bivalves with leather, and how to dry them for winter food. On the eastern side of the Atlantic, oysters have been a prized food since the pre-Christian era. The ancient Romans served large quantities at their banquets, learned to cultivate them, and even made a monetary unit, the denarius, equal in value to one oyster.
Oysters are sea animals that lack a backbone.
They are scientifically classed as molluscs, a word from the Latin meaning soft. Protecting their soft bodies is a hard shell made up of two valves which are joined by a hinge and held together by a strong muscle. Except in the earliest stage of their development, oysters lack power of locomotion. They are found lying motionless on the floor of brackish bays, coves and estuaries, usually attached to rocks or other hard, submerged objects, sometimes in great clusters. Many different species of oysters occur in the inshore waters of the world's temperate and also tropical seas.