Oyster Oddities
Reading edition
An oyster can change its sex several times during its life. This has been determined by Dr. Paul Galtsoff of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service by observing an experimental colony. In the first year 8% of the males changed to females and 13% of the females became males. In the second year 11% of the males changed sex and 12% of the females. One sex change, Dr. Galtsoff found, makes the same individual more likely to undergo another.
A single Pacific coast oyster produces approximately 10,000,000,000 descendants a year. If all survived in five generations they would constitute a mass eight times the size of the world.
Clams and oysters appear to be about the most stupid animals in creation. Actually each has three “brains,” or nerve ganglia. One controls the feeding apparatus, another the viscera, and a third the utilization of oxygen.